314 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
iterranean climate, and is the place of evergreen trees. 
From the above it will he seen, that the vicinity of 
Padua is on account of soil and climatic conditions an 
ideal country for growing fruit tree stocks for American 
use. It has advantage over France on account of the 
virginality of the soil which is new to these cultures and 
which makes the plants disease resisting and vigorous 
without being soft. 
The root system is excellent and the plants show fib¬ 
rous roots without being pricked olf. 
In the latter part of J uly I had the pleasure to visit the 
nursery establishment of Messrs. Fratelli Sgaravatti at 
Saonara near Padua. 
Mr. Erinus Sgaravatti, one of the ten proprietors of 
the firm met me at the station with his automobile to 
take me to the nurseries which are about 20 miles from 
the city of Padua. As I had never before been in Italy 
in summertime I was greatly impressed by the cleanness 
of the country and the healthy looking field of strong 
corn. Having just passed through part of France, Al¬ 
sace, Luxembourg and Belgium, where the drought had 
turned the cornfields into hay fields the better condition 
of those in this part of the country struck me favorably. 
After a lovely ride of about 20 minutes we reached the 
offices and warehouses of the firm which remind one 
more of a modern factory than of a common nursery 
shed. 
Everything is modern with Sgaravatti. The spacious 
packing sheds, the storage houses, the seed warehouses, 
the offices, the implements, the methods etc. and besides 
this modern advancement there is the old fashioned sol¬ 
idity of a firm, who has to keep up a reputation of a hun¬ 
dred years. 
For “The House of Sgaravatti” was established one 
hundred and one years ago, in 1820 by Angelo Sgaravat¬ 
ti, a vegetable gardener. In 1850 his sons, Antonia, 
Luigi and Benedetto named the firm Sgaravatti Brothers, 
a name which it has maintained up to the present. Mr. 
Benedetto, the last named of the three founders is still 
alive, though retired from active business. 
The descendants of Antonio and Benedetto Sgaravatti 
are the present owners of the business, while each fam¬ 
ily branch is represented by 5 members. Thus the man¬ 
agement of the business is conducted by ten responsible 
owners, each of them being the head of a department, 
and while individually independent yet together forming 
a solid unit, concentrated in the senior members. 
Is it any wonder that such a business, naturally grown 
into the present shape and size, the product of family 
pride and conservative solidness, situated in historic 
River Po Plain, became of vast importance and achieved 
results unattainable by others? 
Just imagine a business where each department head 
not works for salary and position alone but for the repu¬ 
tation of his own name as well, thereby ably assisted by 
a force of office clerks, foremen and more than 400 nur¬ 
sery hands. 
The River Po Plain is the home of Myrobolan, and 
Messrs. Sgaravatti having orchards of their own from 
which to harvest the seeds turned to grow seedlings. For 
their own use first, for export later when they found that 
their seedlings were better than the usual quality. Their 
vast area of land, covering more than 500 acres give 
them opportunity to follow a healthy crop rotation, mak¬ 
ing strong and sturdy plants, beautifully rooted and dis¬ 
ease resisting. 
The climate, altogether different from what people 
generally know about the hot Italian climate, makes the 
stock fit for use in every country on earth. 
CITY PARKS AN ASSET 
Fred W. Kelsey writing in the New York Times, Sep¬ 
tember 29th says:— 
“In view of the tremendous growth of New York as a 
world center in finance and economics, and more and 
more as an attraction for visitors from all parts of the 
world, and as the architecture and public parks are two 
of the most commanding features in creating favorable 
impressions of the city, there can be no question of the 
wisdom, as well as economy, of restoring the older parks 
and the development of the newer parks in keeping with 
the growth and needs of the greater city. These parks 
and architectural features in cities like Paris and Berlin, 
as, indeed, in some of the Western cities, could readily 
have been for the past decade capitalized as of enormous 
value as an asset to the cities. For many years these at¬ 
tractions, especially in Paris, have been estimated as 
equivalent to a capitalization of many millions of dollars 
annually, in calling for the admiration and visitation of 
vast numbers of both permanent and transient visitors, 
and it should be a matter of pride that these attractions of 
Greater New York should be at least kept up with the 
times in these matters.” 
MONROE NURSERY 
The Monroe Nursery, Monroe, Michigan, is celebrat¬ 
ing its seventy-fifth anniversary. 
Founded in 1847 by I. E. Ilgenfritz, the nurseries have 
grown from a small patch of ground until they cover 
hundreds of acres and constitute the oldest, largest and 
most complete nursery in Michigan. A business that has 
added millions of dollars in wealth to the country by 
the orchards they made possible and made the country a 
more beautiful place to live in may be justly proud of 
its record. 
The founder died in 1895, leaving his sons to carry on 
the business. In 1902 it was incorporated under the 
title of I. E. Ilgenfritz’ Sons Company, with Wilber F. 
Ilgenfritz, president Frank L. Ilgenfritz, vice president; 
Thomas I. Ilgenfritz, secretary-treasurer. 
MICHIGAN NURSERYMEN’S ASSOCIATION 
Mr. B. J. Manahan, President of the Michigan State 
Association of Nurserymen, will shortly issue a call to 
all Michigan nurserymen to attend a State meeting at 
Grand Rapids during the month of December, 1922. 
The object of this meeting is to form a closer and more 
active State association of Michigan nurserymen. All 
nurserymen are cordially invited to attend this meeting, 
whether members of the National Association or not. 
Notice of date of meeting and location will be mailed 
to all Michigan Nurserymen within a short time. 
