18 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
stock of plants in pots at the greenhouses of the U. S. D. 
of A. at Washington, under the care of George W. 
01 liver. It is possible there are other stocks in the 
country. 
It propagates fairly easily from half ripened wood but 
I he plants invariably dwindle away unless given special 
attention. 
It is a plant that would fit in well at a nursery that is 
equipped for propagating and growing ericaceous plants 
such as the nurseries of Jackson & Perkins and lvoster 
& Company, Bridgeton, New Jersey, to whom we respect¬ 
fully suggest it. 
There is undoubtedly a market for all that could be 
raised at good prices. 
Obituary. * 
J. W. STEVENSON 
Mr. J. W. Stevenson died on November 28th. 1922 at 
the age of eighty. Mr. Stevenson was proprietor of the 
North Bend Nurseries, North Bend, Nebraska. He was 
one of the pioneer Nurserymen of that State, going there 
in 1879 and doing business under the name of the North 
Bend Nurseries since 1882 and was one of the first to 
issue catalogs doing strictly catalog business. 
P. D. Berry of Berry & Sons, Dayton Ohio, died Decem¬ 
ber 13th, 1922 at the age of 62 years. Mr. Berry had 
been in the nursery business for over thirty-two years. 
At one time he was associated with the Scarff Nurser¬ 
ies at New Carlisle, Ohio. In 1902 he bought the farm 
on the Brandt Pike from which Mr. Scarff with the aid 
of his sons went in for himself. 
Besides the nursery business he did considerable 
landscape work. 
He is survived by three children, Walter G. and Earl 
E. Berry and Mrs. J. G. Collison of Dayton, Ohio. 
Samuel H. Bumph, Marshallville, Ga., died December 
22nd at the age of 70. 
Mr. Bumph was the originator of the Elberta and Belle 
of Georgia peaches, the former being named after his 
first wife. 
GRADING 
There was a time when the nursery trade did not 
grade at all, they merely listed the name of the plant and 
it was very much of a question what the customer was 
going to receive when he ordered it, he was just as like¬ 
ly to get a small seedling as a fairly well developed 
plant. 
As the trade developed and competition became great¬ 
er, nurserymen who were alive to needs of their custo¬ 
mers began to give the height and talk about the actual 
condition of the particular plants they were offering. 
In looking through an old nursery catalogue, publish¬ 
ed in 1876, it was extremely interesting to note there 
was not the slightest suggestions given as to lead the cus¬ 
tomer to know whether the plants would have to be ship¬ 
ped by mail or freight. Descriptions were confined en-, 
tirely to describing the flower or plant. 
The first step in grading was to give the heighth of 
the plant without reference to its stockiness, age or any 
information that would indicate the amount of labor and 
the care which had been expended upon it. Following 
this, nurserymen began to talk about the quality of their 
particular plants, indicating those that were very bushy 
and represented exceptional value. 
It is only of late years that the trade as a whole has 
begun to realize the necessity of a real fixed standard of 
grading, which would convey to the consumer the 
knowledge of what he was actually purchasing. 
Plants vary considerably according to the locality or 
soil in which they are grown and it is pretty generally 
recognized that mere height does not always indicate a 
true value or quality. Caliper comes nearer to it, even 
this is very misleading as all nurserymen know that 
transplanting adds greatly to the merchantable value of 
trees but at the same time retards their growth. 
We are interested to know that some of the leading 
Nurseries are now indicating the number of times trans¬ 
planted, which in combination with height and caliper 
gives about as near a value or grade as is possible with 
trees or plants that are produced by natural processes 
and not manufactured with mathematical precision. 
There may come a time when the buying public will 
become so well posted as to know the age as well. The 
sooner however, the trade as a whole, adopts fixed stand¬ 
ards of grading the better it will be for it, as it will make 
it difficult for the unscrupulous Nurseryman to do busi¬ 
ness in competition with the man whose policy is four¬ 
square. 
THANK YOU, MESSRS. N. W. AYER & SON 
The nursery trade owes at least “a Thank You” to the 
well-known advertising firm of N. W. Ayer & Son for 
their full page advertisement appearing in the Saturday 
Evening Post of November 11th. 
While the advertisement was obviously to draw atten¬ 
tion to their own business, the large cut of the poplar 
and elm with the text about the habits of these two 
trees to illustrate the type of service they give, adver¬ 
tised the nurserymen’s products as much as their own 
business: 
The elm grows roots that are deep and spreading. Expansion 
is its nature. Its fibres are tough and strong; it weathers wind 
and storm, it lives and grows for generations. 
Business has its poplars—and its elms. 
The one provides for the present alone; the other has thought 
for the future. 
The one spends thousands of dollars for orders to-day, but 
not a cent for the good-will that makes growth for to-morrow. 
The other, while it spreads its branches now, spreads its roots, 
too, for new growth to-morrow. 
“If you want a tree for to-day, plant the poplar; but if you 
want it to be there to-morrow, plant the elm.” 
For more than fifty years, Advertising Headquarters has been 
helping to plant the elm. 
