86 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
with the different State Experiment stations before putting them 
on the market. The Experiment Stations are located in all parts 
of the country and are thus prepared to test for results under 
different conditions; they are absolutely free from commercial 
influence; their verdicts would he impartial. Such tests would 
be as fair as it would be possible to secure. A single tree often 
affords no real test. It may be especially well situated and have 
surrounding conditions that make its fruit of extra size or color 
or flavor. Or it may be suited to the conditions of only one par¬ 
ticular section. I have no doubt that while originators and in¬ 
troducers are humanly disposed to regard favorably their own 
discoveries, yet I am sure they believe their introductions con¬ 
fer a boon. And yet I think you will agree with me that the 
records show that only a very few of the many novelties intro¬ 
duced have ever measured up to the claims made for them in per¬ 
fect good faith. A fair, impartial and wide test made by the 
non-commercial experiment stations would save much disap¬ 
pointment and loss. Any nurseryman with confidence in his 
novelty should welcome the advertising value of satisfactory re¬ 
sults in a test like that. 
In the florist trade, closely allied to the nursery business, we 
have lately seen a widely distributed test of a new rose. A. N. 
Pierson, Inc., Cromwell, Connecticut, sent plants to a number of 
leading rose growers for testing the new Montgomery’s Priscilla. 
The verdict was that it did not possess such outstanding merit 
as to make it superior to older varieties already in commerce. 
The new rose was withdrawn from sale although the Pierson firm 
had orders booked for many thousands of dollars’ worth of plants. 
The Pierson name would sell any variety they might put on 
the market. Their action affords an interesting example of the 
Pierson business methods and standards, and it illustrates, too, 
the way things are being done in a line that is closely related 
to our own business. There is a concrete suggestion of service 
that, judging by past records, could save planters some loss and 
disappointment. What do you think of it? 
I am still talking about service and there is something else I 
want to ask you about. Prof. J. K. Shaw, of the Bureau of Po¬ 
mology at Amherst, Massachusetts, and formerly an official in 
the same line of work in West Virginia, has lately given out 
some statements that have not been so widely published in the 
trade press nor so generally discussed by nurserymen as their 
possible significance to the trade would seem to warrant. Prof. 
Shaw says that it is possible for him, by following scientific 
methods that can be readily imparted to others, to identify mix¬ 
tures in fruit trees, that they can be identified and marked so 
there will be comparatively few errors. I have not seen that 
done. I know that nurserymen, as a rule, through the amount of 
time spent in their nursery rows, become familiar with the 
limb and leaf growth of different varieties, and I know that very 
few nurserymen can be sure at all times. But if there is any¬ 
thing in Prof. Shaw’s methods of identifications, it should be 
found out and used. If fruit trees can be certainly named and 
identified in some way by undetachable markings, and if nur¬ 
serymen could sell their trees with a certain official certification 
of corrections, then I shall begin to look for the millenium. I 
shall consider that our troubles are over. I have been expecting 
to see some trade organization take this matter up with Prof. 
Shaw and see what his methods are and whether they can be 
put to practical and general use. This very progressive associa¬ 
tion of yours, while mainly interested in ornamental stock, might 
very well take this matter up in the absence of other active 
interest. 
We can serve the public, I think, and ourselves as well, with 
better advertising copy, copy that is always frank and straight¬ 
forward. Some that appears cannot be objected to at any point 
and yet its effect is not entirely wholesome for its advertisers or 
others. 
And think that we can serve with better catalogues. I am not 
going into that subject now, but I believe that if I were preparing 
a general catalogue, I should omit descriptions altogether, es¬ 
pecially descriptions of fruit varieties; they are pretty well 
known and they are in all the catalogues. I think I should pre¬ 
fer to let my readers enjoy the descriptions in the other fellow’s 
catalogue while I devoted my pages to the important business 
of telling them why to buy my trees. A friend of mine recently 
sent me his catalogue for comment and suggestions. He said 
that the body of the catalogue did not seem to pull as well nor 
assist his agents as much as the inserts at front and back, 
where he showed pictures of his nursery, his blocks, his bundles 
of trees, his office and even his residence. As if it was necessary 
to tell anybody that! The descriptions were not even original 
matter. They were evidently lifted from other catalogues; they 
not only suggested the shears and the paste-pot, but the cata¬ 
logues they were taken from were prepared for different parts 
of the country and the descriptive matter wasn’t always a good 
fit. 
Maybe I can illustrate what I mean by referring you to the 
catalogue of the Fancher Creek Nurseries in California. That 
is so far away as to excuse the personal reference. It is full of 
interesting reading matter. The story of Mr. Roeding s introduc¬ 
tion of the fig wasp is as exciting as one of Fabre’s insect books. 
Mr. Roeding’s catalogue tells about fruit with respect to their 
value and uses. And his introduction gives you an insight into 
his conception of the relation of the nurseryman to the planter 
that is worth thinking about. Mr. Roeding says that to have 
trees true to name is of importance so primarily fundamental as 
to be expected as a matter of course, but further he says that 
some strains and some individual trees are so superior that 
propagation should be always from the best. You know, of 
course, what the Bud Selection Association of California is do¬ 
ing in that direction. But Mr. Roeding goes much further than 
that and says, as a nurseryman, that he feels he should make 
sure that the orchard he sells is to be planted where it will suc¬ 
ceed, of suitable varieties, planted in a correct location with re¬ 
spect to slope and drainage and sunshine and winds, and also 
that he must advise against commercial plantings where the 
buyer hasn’t facilities for reaching a profitable market. That is 
a very high conception of the nurseryman’s responsibility. But 
is it too high? Is it not rather a recognition of his own ulti¬ 
mate best interests? Anyway, it is Mr. Roeding’s conception of 
his responsibility outlined in his catalogue. And I might add 
what you all know, that Mr. Roeding is a very successful nur¬ 
seryman. 
We can serve by working along with others. I mean, the 
Press. The reputable farm papers are interested in the farmer. 
We may take that as a safe assumption. And they are interested 
in the nurseryman. Sometimes they are not as well-informed 
as they might be in the matter of trade conditions and trade 
methods and standards. But having been in rather close touch 
with the agricultural press, I have found them not only willing 
but anxious to know us and to co-operate with us for the good 
of the public and therefore for our own good. I refer you to the 
story of Zaccheus. I think you will find it in Luke, 19:3. Zac- 
cheus wished to see the Man of Nazareth, to see what manner 
of Man He was, but Zaccheus could not see Him for the Press! 
So, being a small man, Zaccheus climbed a sycamore tree. I 
advise you nurserymen to plant sycamore trees. If I may be 
pardoned for putting it that way, there is the nursery business 
to be seen, and there are other Pharisees and rich men besides 
Zaccheus, and it may be profitable for them to see and know your 
industry for what it is. If we complain that the press at times 
presents us incorrectly or unfairly, then we must ask ourselves 
if the fault is wholly theirs? If we ask their understanding, we 
must give them our confidence. In all the nursery meetings that 
I have attended, I have never seen or heard anything that needed 
to be concealed from the press or public, and I have heard much 
that would have been greatly to our credit and profit for the 
public to know about. I have always said, and I still believe, 
that it would be immensely to the nurserymen’s advantage to 
have their meetings wide open to the public. Even the worst 
(and I don’t know any worst) would be better than misinforma¬ 
tion and the suspicion invited by secrecy. If what we are and 
what we do and the way we do it are not matters that con¬ 
cern the public—our customers—then that, of course, is another 
matter. But don’t you see tint if we take that position, we cannot 
reasonably complain if we are misunderstood or even misrep¬ 
resented? We don’t want to do anything to make the press or 
the public think we shun publicity; we need publicity, we want 
publicity and the more publicity we can get the better it will 
be for the trade. We can get much further with the press by 
sincere and real co-operation than we can with the fallacy of 
considering advertising an influence, because that only indicates 
the lack of a sense of humor. The press treats us generously and 
will treat us even more generously if but given the opportunity. 
You gentlemen who grow ornamentals have an opportunity as 
well as a responsibility (if I may say so) to make the ugly places 
beautiful and the beautiful places more lovely. There is noth¬ 
ing I can tell this group about landscape gardening, but there 
is a great deal that I could say about some gardens I have seen. 
We cannot give too much thought to color, because color so 
often gives us our moods and tempers. For one thing, we use 
too much red in our gardens. That is the English influence, but 
England is cold and bleak, even in the summer, and they need 
reds to cheer them up. Our own summers are hot and dry and 
every touch of red in our gardens only serves to intensify the 
heat. We should use blues and lavenders lavishly, because they 
are cool colors. I am going to be bold and say that some things 
we sell are hard to locate with good effect. Weeping trees are 
