THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
111 
the manner in which the trees worked, he was of the 
opinion that budding could be extended over a longer 
period than either Japanese or French and par¬ 
ticularly later in the season. Their vigorous growth 
might make it undesirable to hud quite as early as 
on French or Japanese, but their late growth and 
ability to hold their leaves should extend the season 
into the fall. An almost perfect stand of buds was 
obtained on the stocks, very materially higher stand 
than on the other stocks, that is, ordinary Japanese 
stocks.” 
The work on pear stocks is being pushed as rapidly as 
means at hand will permit. The work on other new 
stocks is also going forward paricular attention being 
given to the apple, plum, and rose stocks at this time. 
Bureau of Plant Industry, 
Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction. 
TIIE COUNTRY’S NEED 
By Willard N. Clide, Editor of the American Botanist 
On a recent trip across five Eastern States, I was 
greatly impressed by the fact that an extremely large per 
cent, of the houses visible from the train had absolutely 
no planting about them and I am convinced that the con¬ 
dition is pretty general in our country. This fact may not 
be of special significance to the nurseryman for the bulk 
of his patronage doubtless comes from the parks, ceme¬ 
teries, orchards, and large estates, and yet it seems to me 
that if the owners of any considerable number of these 
plantless lawns should suddenly decide to begin planting, 
it would result in an immense increase in business for the 
grower of plants. 
The question, then, is, can anything be done to promote 
and increase this business? My experience leads me to 
believe that there can. Although I am not a nurseryman 
or landscape gardener by trade, I still have many in¬ 
quiries annually as to the best kinds to plant and I per¬ 
ceive that nearly everybody has some sense of beauty 
which he attempts to gratify. One’s taste, to be sure, may 
run to flower beds of annuals, edged with beer bottles, to 
sections of sewer pipe filled with earth and supporting 
red geraniums, to butter tubs on posts in the middle of 
the lawn and similar atrocities but the errors are due to 
ignorance and even at their worst are far better than no 
plants at all. In themselves they show how universal is 
the desire for beauty and the improvement of one’s sur¬ 
roundings. 
But if the average individual desires to do some plant¬ 
ing about his premises, who is to show him how? The 
owner of a large estate calls in the landscape gardener or 
architect but the less eminent planter possibly does not 
know that such a person exists or if so, feels that he can¬ 
not afford to pay for his services. In consequence he 
either forgoes the business altogether or he attempts the 
planting himself. In the latter case he is as likely to 
plant annuals as perennials and next year finds himself 
about where he was in the beginning. Even if he selects 
perennials, he does not know how to choose those suited 
to his locality. 
It seems to me the remedy for all this is to make a con¬ 
certed eff ort to educate the general public as to what and 
how to plant. The ordinary nursery catalogue, however 
well written and illustrated, will not alone serve the pur¬ 
pose; at least it has not as yet. Apparently it will be 
necessary to offer the most elementary instruction. What 
the common people seem to want is definite information 
on specific questions as what plants are good to plant in 
the angle between the house and porch, what to use along 
the foundations of the house, what is good for a corner of 
the lawn, what to use for a hedge, for a hardy border, to 
discourage tradesmen from making paths across the 
lawn, for the curve in the walk, for a dividing line from 
the neighbors, for a screen to shut out disagreeable 
views, etc. 
All these have been discussed, time after time, in the 
gardening magazines but they fail to hit the exact spot, 
partly because the people to be reached do not take the 
gardening magazines and partly because the information 
lacks practical application. What is wanted, it seems to 
me, is exact information as to how many plants to use for 
a given number of feet of space, how far apart to set the 
plants, when to buy them, how to plant them and, most 
important of all, how much they ought to cost. There 
ought to he definite plans for each planting suggested, 
and several plans with different plants for the same 
space. This information might well be introduced into 
the usual catalogue in place of much of the description of 
individual plants or else added as a planting manual. Sev¬ 
eral nurserymen might co-operate in printing informa- 
ion of such a nature as to be beneficial to all. Moreover, 
if this matter is properly presented with appropriate il¬ 
lustrations, the lay press and the press syndicates would 
probably be glad to use it. All must agree that there is 
room for a much more extended movement for planting 
than is now carried on. Some such plan as I have sug¬ 
gested seems to me likely to make things move. 
EFFECT OF THE PAST WINTER ON EVERGREENS 
The past winter, as every one knows, was an un¬ 
usually severe one. The effect on many kinds of plants 
has been disastrous. Plants that in previous winters 
came through unscathed have suffered very much. Ever¬ 
greens in the Nurseries look very much as if they had 
been seared by fire, rather than from the effects of a 
severe winter. This was especially noticeable on plants 
that were exposed to the northeast winds. Whole blocks 
of Hemlocks have been seared brown. The same is true 
of Arborvitaes, some of the Retinisporas, Mount Atlas 
Cedars, Pine and such like plants that are usually de¬ 
pended upon to come through the winter in good shape. 
They have had their foliage killed. 
At this writing it is too soon to judge if the plants have 
been killed or if they will put out a new crop of leaves. 
More tender plants such as Yews, Hollies, Rhododen¬ 
drons, of course, have suffered severely. If the plants 
have not been actually killed, they have at least been 
made unsaleable for this season and it can be readily un¬ 
derstood how much it will add to the already acute short¬ 
age, due to lack of propagation and planting during the 
war and to Quarantine 37. It will help to add to the short¬ 
age of available stock for the next several years, or until 
the recent propagation begins to come on the market. 
Junipers of all kinds, spruces and firs seem to have 
stood better than other kinds of evergreens. 
It is noted that the damage has not only been done to 
