CIbe national IRurserytnatu 
FOR GROWERS AND DEALERS IN NURSERY STOCK 
The National Nurseryman Publishing Co., Incorporated. 
Vol. XIX. ROCHESTER, N. Y., DECEMBER, 1911 No. 12 
INTERESTING COMMUNICATIONS FROM 
VARIOUS PARTS OF THE COUNTRY 
THE SEASON. TRADE SUGGESTIONS 
In this section at least, the past season was a very trying 
one, and due to weather conditions, nursery stock in general 
was damaged considerably. During the entire summer of 
1910 we did not have sufficient rain to even lay the dust. 
This was followed by almost a snowless winter, and conse¬ 
quently, the ground was in an exceedingly dry state. This, 
coupled with drying winds which blew for weeks at a time, 
did much damage, especially to conifers. Conditions last 
spring, that is, so far as growing stock was concerned, were 
anything but favorable, as the drought, as we all remember, 
continued; and had we not been favored with rain in August 
at a time when the stock was merely fighting for an existence, 
the loss would have been enormous. 
At present, shade trees of all kinds are greatly in demand, 
especially sugar maple and American elm. With the shrubs, 
hardy privets, Berberis Thunbergii, Spiraea Van Houttei, 
Honeysuckles, Philadelphus, Lilacs, and Green Barberry 
take the lead; and in the conifers, Douglas Spruce, White 
Pine, Norway Spruce, Concolor Fir, and American Arbor 
Vitae are mostly called for. 
Sell Good Sized Stock 
In our opinion, nurserymen should recommend, for two 
reasons, the use of strong bushy 2-3 ft., deciduous shrubs 
more generally than has been done in the past. First, it does 
not pay to handle large overgrown stock, five, six and 
seven feet high; and second, the same graceful effects cannot 
be produced with such large stock as with the former. It 
requires more care to handle (and care means expense) this 
large stock, on the part of both nurseryman and planter; 
and in a few years’ time, the smaller stock will outgrow the 
latter. It is, therefore, evident that both nurseryman and 
planter are benefitted by the use of the smaller stock. 
There seems to be a tendency on the part of some nursery 
firms to fill their competitors’ orders with as poor stock as can 
be grown, packed in a very careless manner, and charge as 
much or more for it as selected stock to their retail customers. 
Whether it is done with the intention of hurting the trade of 
the firm compelled to buy, or whether the stock is grown 
cheaply and carelessly for wholesale trade only, is a matter of 
conjecture. The time always comes when we are compelled 
to rely on our competitor’s honesty for the filling of an order 
and we should, therefore, have the same consideration for each 
other as for our retail customers. 
New Varieties 
Plants worthy of recommendation and comparatively new 
are Ampelopsis Veitchi robusta purpurea, a remarkable 
vigorous climber and perfectly hardy in this section. Hydran¬ 
gea arborescens sterilis, and Pyrus Amoldiana. This latter 
species, recently introduced by Mr. Wilson of the Arnold 
Arboretum and named after that arboretum, promises to be 
one of the finest plants of its kind and should prove a good 
seller when put on the market. 
Waukegan, Ill. R. Douglas’ Sons. 
Eastern New York Trade Ethics 
We have found very httle changes from previous years in 
trade conditions. Much the same methods have prevailed. 
The general policy of dealing with quantity rather than 
quality is still adhered to by many; and there is no fixed rule, 
for the most part, as to prices. The evil effects to the trade 
as a whole from selling to landscape architects and others not 
entitled to trade rates are yet in evidence. Nor have the 
Pharisees in the business—those small minded men who, in 
assuming a more-holy-than-thou attitude of superiority to 
their competitors, continue the oft repeated experiment of 
the boy who tried to raise himself by tugging at his boot 
straps, building themselves up by pulling others down—yet 
been eliminated. There are still those so obtuse that they 
fail to realize the effect of this kind of a boomerang policy. 
These unfortunates look through very green goggles when 
imagining that they can make commercial progress by 
speaking ill of competitors, when exploiting hot air as to their 
own claims for a prospective customer’s recognition. You 
might well recommend to this contingent in the trade, who 
apparently have this sort of a microbe or mania for doing 
themselves harm and their competitors a corresponding 
benefit, the story of the back-action firing effect of the 
colored man’s shot gun. I have known of some good orders 
lost to one or more supposably reputable nursery concerns in 
just this way, and conversely some valuable orders gained by 
their competitors for like reason. 
Nursery Policies 
Then there is that sort of “Nursery Management’’ that 
will solemnly promise, either orally or in writing as preferred, 
one thing, and when that thing is promptly ordered proceed 
