THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
283 
packing all of one variety in a box loose and putting 
a string around that variety and then another variety 
with string around, until the box is full. Forty-seven 
years ago, one of Franklin Davis & Go’s, agents sold a 
planter, a physician, 1000 apple trees and for some rea¬ 
son he would not take them when delivered at the sta¬ 
tion, and 1 was sent to make settlement with him, the 
purchaser made me take all the trees out of the box ex¬ 
cept the bottom lot to see if they were right before he 
would settle for them, and he remarked that he did not 
think a first class nursery would put up trees that way 
and that trees he had received from the north were tied 
up in neat bundles. During our shipping season 1 try 
to look after the packing, more than any 
other part, although I look after the digging as 
much as I can, as I wish to see that the trees are handled 
and not subjected to more exposure than is possible be¬ 
fore they reach the packing grounds. One thing, I try 
to have men pile up the trees at the end of rows so that 
the roots will be away from the sun. 1 also like to 
see all stock received from other nurserymen unpacked 
to see if it tallies out right and see that varieties do not 
get mixed, as I find that some nurserymen only label 
one or two bundles of a lot, especially those handling 
blackberries and raspberries. The past spring, we 
placed an order for 1000 Victoria and 1000 Linnaeus 
Rhubarb plants which we wanted for our own planting, 
when received, they came in a box which was not full 
and only one lot was labelled and they were separated 
with a piece of paper that was not near large enough to 
cover the bottom lot in the box and no doubt they were 
mixed, also had another order for 1000 which came from 
another nurseryman who claims to be one of the largest, 
which were in a box that was twice as large as it should 
be. 
We find that it is very unsatisfactory in buying ever¬ 
greens from many nurserymen, as they do not handle 
them well and we have trouble with our customers. A 
few years ago we had to buy quite a lot of Irish Juniper 
for fall shipment, and we ordered them balled and when 
they came from the depot, the man brought them loose 
in the wagon. The boxes having been broken so badly 
they could not be handled. In packing they were put in 
very light boxes and no braces were put in the boxes. We 
buy evergreens for our own planting and have received 
many from France and Holland which are packed up a 
long time. We also buy some from nurseries near 
borne, which mostly have to come by express and I am 
sorry to say that we will have better success with the 
foreign stock. This should not be the case. II our 
own home nurseries would use a little more care in 
handling, there would not be so much importing done. 
We find the French and Japanese do the best 
packing of stock—have received several shipments of 
Japan stocks, including pear, cherry, apple and Mag¬ 
nolias, most all of which have grown well. 
I want to say in conclusion a few words about Mr. 
Franklin Davis, who some of the older nurserymen 
here knew and had dealings with. Mr. Davis started, 
I think, in spring of 1849 from Adams County, Penn¬ 
sylvania with a one-horse wagon load ol apple grails 
to Virginia to start a nursery. The second year when 
his trees had grown to salable' size he went on the road 
to sell them and from that small beginning, he built up 
a large business by growing and selling his trees 
through agents. When the Civil War started he had a 
large stock of trees which were an entire loss as there 
was no sale there on account of the war. In the early 
days in the business, he worked all day in the nursery 
doing his correspondence at night, while he was not a 
public speaker, be was not only a good nurseryman but 
a good correspondent and he was not a man to become 
discouraged if anything he undertook did not prove suc¬ 
cessful. In his nursery work, he spared no pains to 
do his work well, using lines to plant all stock by and if 
stocks were to be planted, all were trenched out by 
spades and he was very particular to trace down 
straight before the planting was done. Mr. Davis was 
a good grower of trees, especially apples, knowing most 
of them by sight. He was also one of the most par¬ 
ticular men about staking each variety, the stakes being 
made of dressed lumber l 1 /^ by 2 inches and 26 inches 
long and they were painted and the names pul on in let¬ 
ters, he was very careful to have the stakes put down 
straight at the end of rows and very particular 
to keep roads clean. Mr. Davis was not only a nur¬ 
seryman, but a fruit grower as well, planting large 
acreage of peach, pear and small fruits, having one or¬ 
chard of 20,000 Bartlett standard pear. He tested all 
varieties, having 400 varieties of apple and 100 var¬ 
ieties of peach. He was one of the pioneer growers of 
strawberries, planting largely on the James River be¬ 
tween Richmond and Norfolk, during 59 or 60 for New 
York market, also the first to plant at Goldsboro, North 
Carolina which has developed such a large business in 
Eastern North Carolina. Mr. Davis built up a good 
name in his business at Staunton Nurseries which he 
brought to the Richmond Nurseries, and was the founda¬ 
tion of a fine mail order trade, and most of the customers, 
both mail order and through sales of agents, left the selec¬ 
tion of varieties to him which lie was very particular in 
making. 
ROYAL PALM NURSERIES 
Recent improvements at the Royal Palm Nurseries, 
Oneco, Florida, are a large extension to the lath houses, 
new ofiice building and equipment, and more acreage 
added to the experimental planting, mainly devoted to the 
new hardy avocados, but also a large number of new im¬ 
portations will be tried out in addition to the hundreds 
set the past few years. Valuable information is being 
gained from Ibis experimental work, along the lines ot 
the Government station work at Miami and elsewhere. 
The late P. W. Reasoner began importing new plants and 
trees from all over the tropics in 1885, about 12 years 
before the Bureau of Plant Industry took up this work, 
and hundreds of valuable fruit and economic plants, as 
well as ornamentals were introduced lor the first time 
into America. 
The Litchee of China and South Asia has been fruited 
this year for the first time in Florida at the Royal Palm 
Nurseries. Very fine large fruits, fully matured on two 
young trees set in 1910. This will be a splendid addi¬ 
tion to Florida fruits; the tree being more hardy than 
most tropical subjects, standing sharp frosts. 
