278 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
THE GREAT SOUTHWEST. 
John S. Kerr, Sherman, Texas. 
The soil of this great section is, for the most part, rich. 
The quality, as a rule, is above the average for the United 
States, and the percentage of good land to waste land is also 
above the average for the United States. There are millions 
of acres of rich virgin soil of dark chocolate loam on clay 
subsoil, other millions of “black waxy” soil underlaid at one 
to thirty feet below the surface by a rotten limestone forma¬ 
tion and of which this soil was formed, and which is largely 
denuded, or prairie; other millions are sandy loam under¬ 
laid with porous red clay and naturally covered with post 
oak, hickory and other timber, or running to the lighter 
sand, covered with fine pine forests. The forests of the 
Southwest contain a wealth of most valuable timbers of 
almost every commercial class of both soft and hard wood. 
The minerals of the mountainous part of this great sec¬ 
tion are important. The exhibit from this section at the St. 
Louis Exposition showed a variety and a wealth of minerals 
exceeded by no other section, as was' attested by mineralo¬ 
gists of the highest authority and ability. 
The climate is most comprehensive, varied, salubrious. 
The elevated wind-swept plains of western Oklahoma, 
Texas, and New Mexico, are healthy, exhilarating and free 
from malaria, and from fungous and other diseases. These 
plains, once the ranchman’s pride, are now fast becoming 
the land of the apple, the pear, the vinifera grape and 
alfalfa; the mild, genial and damper climate of the Missis¬ 
sippi and Red river valleys, the land of the peach, and every 
fruit and farm crop; the central prairie section of Louisiana 
and Texas, adapted to a wide range of fruits and standard 
crops; the semi-tropic coast section of Louisiana and Texas, 
where the land of the orange, the fig, the magnolia, the 
gardenia, or cape jasmine, the strawberry, the trucker’s 
paradise, also the rice and sugar field of America; almost 
the entire Southwest section being the “land of cotton, corn, 
wheat, oats; alfalfa and stock farming.” 
In fruit culture, the Southwest is developing at a rapid 
rate. In Arkansas, Oklahoma, East, North and West Texas 
and New Mexico, all classes of standard fruits grow finely. 
In a large part of these sections the boll weevil’s attack on 
cotton, a leading money crop, is causing a great turning to 
fruit culture as a means of diversification. The 1900 census 
gives a very erroneous idea of the present developments 
along these lines, so we cannot safely give detailed figures. 
Over three hundred nurseries have sprung up in this sec¬ 
tion to supply the demand for trees, and many foreign nur¬ 
series here find sale for their products. As in most coun¬ 
tries, there have been abuses practiced; being an open field, 
this has been the dumping ground for much diseased and 
untrue stock in the hands of wild cat salesmen. The effect 
has been the lowering of the standard of the nursery busi¬ 
ness, and a reckless disregard by many tree planters of their 
obligations in accepting the trees ordered. The leading 
native nurserymen are striving hard to correct all these 
abuses and to raise the business up to a high standard in all 
phases of the work by better varieties, better stock in both 
growing and grading, and better handling, by higher prices, 
and by straightforward, high-toned methods and practice. 
There is already a marked improvement, and still there is 
room at the top. 
The utilitarian age in this section is no longer exclusive in 
the planting of nursery stock. There is a growing tendency 
toward the planting of ornamental stock in the home 
grounds, in the cemetary and in the park. The varied 
climatic and soil conditions, so different-from the older sec¬ 
tions further East and North call for a class of fruit and 
ornamental trees and flowers adapted to these conditions, 
therefore, enterprising, nurserymen and planters have sought 
out and created, as it were, many things in both classes “to 
the manner born.” Space will not permit the enumeration 
of these. “Southwestern Horticulture,” a volume recently 
published, contains much of interest along these lines. 
Copies may be had of Texas Nursery Company, Sherman, 
Texas. 
ELEMENTS FOR SUCCESS IN THE NURSERY BUSINESS. 
J. B. Pilkington, Portland, Ore. 
When I started in the nursery business, all we had to do 
was to grow a stock of trees. So we grew a little of every¬ 
thing and tried to see how many varieties of apples, pears, 
and plums we could raise to satisfy the wants of the planter 
who wanted a family orchard “just for variety.” Our order 
generally read, “put in one or two of every variety you have.” 
The evil of the nursery business in those days was too 
many varieties—I am afraid the evil still exists. 
Nowadays, it is one thing to grow trees and another to 
sell them. There is a story told of a man who had a herd of 
cattle and yet died for want of a beefsteak. So, with the 
nurserymen who are good growers, and raise a fine block of 
trees. They can’t eat trees, and they die wdth trees on hand. 
A good grower when he delivers the product of his fields 
to the packing house, has earned 25%. Then comes the 
disposing of them. If very successful he sells all and 3 5% is 
added, thereby realizing 60%. But supposing this only 
reaches the 50% mark, then come the collections and 
“where are we at?” You can figure this at 40% or 100%. 
In a conversation^ nurseryman who operates extensively, 
informed me that 75% of his collections were in on June 1; 
it seems, in view of the fact that slow collections get slower 
and slower, that 75% is a very poor showing. No matter 
how good prices one gets, the loss of 25% or even 15 or 10% is 
too great. Upon the collections depend our success. 
The nursery business of today is tremendous in its scope, 
and to master it in all its detail, is too much to undertake 
and likewise, unnecessary for any one mind. In my humble 
opinion, the specialist who follows along any one of the 
many diversified branches of nursery work has more chances 
for success than one who handles everything. But whoever 
grows good stock, sells it, and collects 100%, ought to be 
successful; if he collects less, his success will be proportion¬ 
ate. There is no royal road to success, and incidentally, 
“There is nothing succeeds like success.” 
If you have a surplus of any kind of stock make it a 
surplus of cash by advertising in the National Nursery¬ 
man. 
