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THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
The National Nurseryman 
Established 1893 by C. L. YATES. Incorporated 1902 
Published monthly by 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN PUBLISHING CO., Inc. 
Hatboro, Pa. 
Editor .ERNEST HEMMING, Flourtown, Pa. 
The leading trade journal issued for Growers and Dealers in 
Nursery Stocks of all kinds. It circulates throughout the 
United States, Canada and Europe. 
AWARDED THE GRAND PRIZE AT PARIS EXPOSITION, 1900 
SUBSCRIPTION RATES 
One Year In Advance .$1.50 
Foreign Subscriptions, in advance .$2.00 
Six Months .$1.00 
Advertising rates will he sent upon application. Advertisements 
should reach this office by the SOth of the month previous to the date 
of Issue. 
Payment In advance required for foreign advertisements. Drafts 
on New York or postal orders, instead of checks, are requested by the 
Business Manager, Hatboro, Fa. 
Correspondence from all points and articles of Interest to nursery¬ 
men and horticulturists are cordially solicited. 
Photographs and news notes of Interest to nurserymen should be 
addressed, Bdltor, Flourtown, Pa., and should be mailed to arrive not 
later than the 25th of the month. 
Entered as second-class matter June 22, 1916, at the post office at 
Hatboro, Pennsylvania, under the Act of March S, 1879. 
Hatboro, Pa., August 1920 
THE 
NURSERY 
BUSINESS 
We are getting the sore spots exposed, 
The Rural New Yorker, The Country 
Gentleman, and perhaps other papers 
are doing their best to expose and ac¬ 
quaint the public that all those engaged 
in the nursery business are not honest men. The goevrn- 
ment has published far and wide the disasters brought 
on the country by the introduction of disease and pests 
on imported nursery stock and the necessity of stringent 
quarantines. 
The layman will begin to think we are a bad, dan¬ 
gerous lot and a Volstead act is due to suppress the bus¬ 
iness or give it over entirely to governmental supervision. 
Foreigners are apt to judge us by what they read in 
our newspapers. They do not always remember that it 
is the unusual, the sensational, the bizarre and the ex¬ 
ception that forms the bulk of the reading matter, add to 
this the ability of the irrepressible American reporter to 
serve it up in his characteristic style what he considers 
news and you have a view.of the great majority of the 
American people exactly opposite to a sober, industrious, 
moral, God-fearing people. 
Ibc ical truth is these qualities are so common they 
are not worth mentioning. 
Is it not somewhat the same with our business? 
lie muck rakers, delight in the unusual and sensa¬ 
tional and always find the doings of a crook make more 
interesting reading than honest achievement. 
A'\;iy back in 1909 before there were so many laws 
rules and regulations to keep the crooked nurserymen 
in check, when pests and diseases were being imported 
without so many restrictions, the country was one 
grand harvest field for the tree agent without a con¬ 
science. 
The nurserymen of the country were directly or indi¬ 
rectly responsible for an annual crop of 
Apples, valued at $83,231,000. 
or a total 
Pears 
Plums 
Cherries 
Small Fruits 
Grapes 
Nuts. 
value of all fruits 
7.911.000. 
10,299,000. 
7,231,000. 
29,974,000. 
22,028,000. 
4,448,000. 
and nuts in 
the United 
States of $222,024,000. 
Nursery products $21,051,000. 
Flowers and plants $334,872,000. 
This is merely a census valuation in dollars, of a de¬ 
cade ago. We shall have to wait for the returns of the 
recent census to find out how much it was in 1919. 
Even when the figures are available they will say 
nothing about the value in health and happiness derived 
from our gardens, parks, and those riches derived from 
the nurseryman’s products that are beyond computation. 
That we are being muck raked and investigated and 
quarantined is truly a healthy sign, anything is better 
than being ignored but we ourselves must not be stam¬ 
peded by false conclusions, and what is more important 
we must not countenance any practice unworthy of such 
a calling. 
We have the finest business in the world. 
The health and happiness of the people depend upon 
us. 
It is the least parasitic of any occupation. 
It does not slaughter, consume or destroy natural re¬ 
sources, but builds them up. 
It is the one occupation along with farming where 
man, in his finite way begins where God left off. 
One of the most promising signs of progress 
NURSERY in the nursery business is the fact that the 
TRAINING National Association appointed a commit¬ 
tee on College Training, whose report read 
at the Convention we published in our last issue. 
When the time comes that chairs of Horticulture are 
established in the universities it will not be necessary tc 
employ professors of entomology to regulate the grow¬ 
ing and handling of plants, we shall have men with a 
broader knowledge and more in sympathy with nursery 
interests sitting in the high places. 
There is however, a horticultural education, the 
schools and colleges are not equipped or fitted to give 
and that is the training and experience that will take the 
place of the indentured apprentice. 
llieie are many who will not agree with this state¬ 
ment, claiming the experiment stations and horticultural 
schools give practical training as, well as book know¬ 
ledge. r i j 
Theie is no doubt they do splendid work and turn out 
men who are a credit to them but they are invariably 
what Kipling designates as Sens of Mary. What the 
nursery business needs is Sons of Martha, Skillei 
