THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
177 
vance of the average. The winter was exceptionally mild, 
which resulted in premature opening of fruit blossoms. 
The frost of March affected disastrously the peach crop, 
and reports now have it that it will not average more than 
twenty or twenty-five per cent of a full crop for the state 
of Georgia. Notwithstanding these occasional drawbacks, 
the spirit of the farmer and fruit grower of the South is 
hopeful, and he looks forward to the future with confidence. 
Business )VIovenicnts 
PACIFIC COAST FEARS FROST 
Advices from the Northwest Pacific announce a heavy 
bloom of peach, cherry, and strawberry, but express a 
fear that late frosts will very materially reduce the crop. 
This frost bugaboo seems to be universal. It makes little 
difference whether a peach orchard is in central Georgia, 
in New England, or on the Pacific Coast, the frost phantom 
hovers in the offing. 
A LARGE ORCHARD 
The era of large orchard enterprises appears to be upon 
us. The Hampshire Middle -Ridge Orchard Company of 
Springfield, West Virginia, announces that they have 
purchased a bearing orchard of 18,000 peach trees, and 
2,000 apples in that region, where they already own 2,700 
acres of land, with a view of developing a large orchard 
enterprise. They have an experienced manager, who is an 
expert in the handling and packing of fruit, and they expect 
to go into the market as producers of choice fruits. 
A NEW WASHINGTON NURSERY 
The Olympic Nature Nursery of Nellita, Washington, 
has been established by Mr. Joel Shomaker, who for a 
quarter of a century or more has been an agricultural 
editor and writer, and is president of the Washington 
Conservation Commission. Having overworked in the 
city, Mr. Shomaker is taking up nursery operations as a 
country life occupation, and endeavoring to build up a 
reliable enterprise in the Olympic region. Forest fires 
destroyed a considerable quantity of stock last year, but 
Mr. vShomaker is not discouraged, and is forging ahead 
persistently and intelligently. 
AMARILLO, TEXAS 
D. J. Muncy, for 21 years engaged in Floyd County in 
the nursery business, and later located at Lockney, is 
removing to this city and will this Sprin g set out two hundred 
thousand trees.— Florists’ Exchange. 
TEXAS A PROFITABLE FIELD 
Certificates to the number of one hundred forty-two 
have been issued to nurseries outside of Texas, giving them 
authority to do business in that state. The latest firm to 
receive such a certificate was the Fairbury Nursery of 
Fairbury, Nebraska. 
P. J. BERCKMANS COMPANY 
An Important Correction 
In our issue of March, there appeared a paragraph 
credited to a Charleston paper, which gave the impression 
that the Berckmans Nursery was soon to pass out of the 
control of the sons into the hands of the widow of the late 
P. J. Berckmans. It appears that this item was in¬ 
accurate in statement, and we are glad to call attention to 
these inaccuracies. It is well known that the business of 
the Fruitland Nurseries is conducted by a corporation 
under the name of P. J. Berckmans Company. The stock 
of this company is owned or controlled by the three sons of 
the late Prosper J. Berckmans, and the company conducts 
its business upon land leased from the late Mr. Berckmans 
for a period covering the entire life of the corporation. 
The testament of the late Mr. Berckmans conveyed a 
portion of the leased lands to his wife, but this deed^nd his 
will in no way interfered with the lease of the company, so 
that the business of the Berckmans Company will be con¬ 
ducted, as heretofore, by the corporation; and at the 
expiration of its charter life, the majority stockholders, 
consisting of the Berckmans sons, will continue in the 
same business, either as a corporation, or as individuals. 
The tract of land left to them by their father is connected 
with other lands controlled and owned by themselves, all 
of which will prove an amply sufficient area for the conduct 
and enlargement of their business. Any impression lead¬ 
ing to the belief that the Berckmans Company was to cease 
business, gathered from the former article, is entirely 
erroneous. 
TARIFF 
After reading in your paper that a protest, filed by 
the Jackson & Perkins Co., Newark, N. Y., contending, 
that “evergreen seedlings’’ should come in free of duty, 
regardless of age or size, was sustained, we instructed our 
customs broker to enter all evergreen seedlings of any size 
or age as merchandise free of duty. The result has been 
that evergreen seedlings under 2 feet were passed free, but 
those 2 feet and over had to pay 25 per cent ad valorem as 
nursery stock. I just arrived from Holland today and 
left your paper in Holland. 
Our customs brokers want your paper, because the 
decisions as published by the Government every week are 
not as explicit as the report in your paper. 
As soon as their entries are liquidated, they are going to 
file a protest, and we are collecting all the evidence we can 
secure. 
New York. C. Grootendorst. 
PRACTICAL WORK 
A demonstration in pruning and spraying was given 
early in May by the Connecticut Agricultural College and 
the Connecticut Pomological Society. An orchard of 
neglected trees was chosen for this purpose, .and some 
work was also done on trees that were severely pruned last 
year. It was an excellent opportunity to observe practi¬ 
cal work in orchard renovation. 
