THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
213 
are admirably equipped to turn out large quantities of high 
grade stock. These establishments were supplemented 
some ten years ago by a grape and small fruit growing plant 
at Portland, New York, in the heart of the Chautauqua 
grape belt. Owing, however, to inability to secure suffi¬ 
cient suitable land for their purposes, some two years ago the 
Company acquired a fine tract farther west on the 
Lake Shore and Nickel Plate Railways, near North 
Girard, Pa. 
The situation here is admirable, located as it is on a well 
drained, elevated plateau, providing good air and soil 
drainage, alongside the valley of the Elk Creek. It lies 
directly on the line of the interurban between Cleveland and 
Buffalo, so that transportation facilities for freight and 
j 
Distributing the Grape Cuttings. 
passenger service are excellent. The soil, as we have said, 
is a fine gravelly loam, well filled with humri^s. 
A recent v sit to this grape and small fruit growing nur¬ 
sery revealed many interesting features. We were struck 
by the adaptability of the soil to clover growing. This is 
most important, for clover in the nurseryman’s rotation is 
an absolutely essential factor. It means that the humus 
content of the soil may be readily replenished. The Girard 
plant has replaced the Portland tract, and now in its third 
year is turning out and being stocked with the standard 
varieties as well as the promising newcomers in grapes and 
bush fruits. At the time of our visit, the last of the grape 
cuttings were going into the ground at the rate of some 
300,000 per day. These included some of the newer varie¬ 
ties which Messrs. Stark Brothers are propagating for early 
introduction. King Philip and Hicks are among these varie¬ 
ties, the one being of eastern production, and the other 
claiming Missouri as its native state. The new tract at 
North Girard is turning out grape, currant, and gooseberry 
stock in great quantities and of fine quality. One of the 
most interesting scenes we have witnessed in recent times 
was the planting in the most expeditious form of grape 
cuttings by a gang of trained workers. The planting of 
cuttings this year will run into the millions, and covers a 
large tract of ground. 
The establishment is being rapidly enlarged, for the 
experience of the past two years in the growing of grapes, 
currants, gooseberries, and the like, has demonstrated 
beyond question that the soil and conditions are right for the 
production of high grade stock. This North Girard branch 
of Stark Brothers is in charge of Mr. Inches, himself a 
Missouri product, who demonstrated at Portland in a very 
satisfactory manner his ability as a manager of labor and a 
sticking the Grape Cuttings: Stark Brothers Company. 
grower of plants. We are interested in this type of plant 
growing which takes the grower to the conditions necessary 
to the production of the highest and best type of product 
which he is interested in raising. The line of adaptation of 
varieties and classes of fruit is one which neither the 
orchardist nor the nurseryman can afford to overlook. 
EXPENSIVE AND UNWELCOME GUESTS 
Commissioner Pearson of the Department of Agriculture 
at Albany has distributed colored plates, accompanied by 
descriptions of the gipsy aud brown-tail moths. With 
these is a letter calling attention to the necessity of im¬ 
mediate notification of the state authorities when any of 
these pests are noticed. New England has already ex¬ 
pended enormous amounts of money in an attempt to 
control these moths, but millions of dollars’ worth of 
damage has been done by them, notwithstanding. It is said 
that they are working westward; therefore, eastern New 
Yorkers should be especially watchful. 
