126 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
Winter Work 
The busiest place in winter in the largest nurseries is the 
trimming room. Here at Smiths’ there were sixteen men 
continuously engaged in trimming the French stock as it 
came in the large eight foot packing boxes. Smiths’ belong 
to the American French syndicate and are thus assured of 
obtaining what they want when they want it. Altho the 
French can produce the proper sort of seedlings, they have 
not learned how to nail packing boxes, for an evident waste 
of time and labor had been spent in nailing large spikes every 
three inches along the edges, when one every three feet would 
have been sufficient. 
Decrease in Number of Firms 
In talking of business in general and the nursery industry 
about Geneva, Mr. Smith remarked that, altho thirty years 
ago there were over four times as many firms in and around 
Geneva as there are at present, now the nurseries are much 
larger. It would be difficult to say whether there is an 
increase or not in production. Mr. Smith believes that 
Geneva is ahead of Rochester in the tree industry and about 
on a par with the Dansville section in this respect, but that 
while Dansville has many smaller firms Geneva has the 
production concentrated in the hands of a few men. 
Apples are very high at the present time, prices being 
twenty to twenty-five cents now, where they were five to 
six cents in days gone by. This is due to the increased 
demand stimulated by the newspapers, the pomological socie¬ 
ties, and the general boom. ‘ 
The Smith Company sells exclusively at wholesale and 
supplies florists and other retailers. 
The Rice Brothers Nursery 
Rice Brothers’ executive offices are situated near the out¬ 
skirts of the town in a large frame building, bustling with the 
clink-clank of a large corps of stenographers, busy with the 
wholesale and retail ends of the business, which are, however, 
kept separate. The general trend of the business in the last 
three years has been very good, and business this year had 
been up to standard until the cold w^ave came, and put a 
temporary curtailment upon the orders. Credit is given the 
pomological societies and the general agitation for the move¬ 
ment back to the country, for the increasing business during 
the past few years. It is a common occurrence for people 
who know neither varieties nor the kind of fruit they want 
to ask for advice on what to buy, as they are intending to set 
out orchards. 
The apples that seem to be most in demand are the red 
varieties. The general run of apples has been well cleaned 
out. The prices are, therefore, high. Ben Davis is a popular 
seller, while the Baldwin and Northern Spy are the other 
important varieties with this firm at present. Of these 
varieties a carload has been shipped to Oregon, a noteworthy 
triumph for the eastern nurseryman. 
The Variety Perfect 
The Perfect apple, a variety which originated in Maine 
and the sale of which is controlled exclusively by Rice 
Brothers, promises to be of great value and has already won 
prizes at the pomological shows in Rochester. It is a variety 
suited for winter market and export trade. It is said to be 
superior to the Baldwin in eating quality, color and size, as 
well as firmness for shipping. It partakes of the characteris¬ 
tics of the Baldwin and Northern Spy. The tree is a regular 
grower, forming a large, regular, smooth top. The fruit, 
borne singly, has a skin which is very tough. The color is 
dark red. It is said for the apple that it never drops from the 
tree. From the testimonials on hand, it seems that the 
Perfect will fill an important place in its class of apple. 
Care of Stock 
The storage houses of Rice Brothers are well stocked with 
all the different kinds of nursery stock. The stock is brought 
in from the field at the beginning of the cold weather and 
stored in the large shelves and stacks which line the walls of 
the storage house. The roots are protected with excelsior, 
which, is kept at a considerable degree of dampness and 
sprinkled as occasion requires. To withstand great frosts, 
if they should occur, Rice Brothers have transportable coke 
stoves, scattered thru their storehouse. Fire is started in 
these occasionally and protects the trees from frost. The 
stock is kept in such a way that any variety may be gotten at 
a moment’s notice; for each tree is labelled and diagrams 
of the arrangement are hung in a convenient place on the 
wall. 
A tree bundling machine and a leaf stripper, run by a gas 
engine, represent some of the complement found in the pack¬ 
ing shed. Here about forty men were busily engaged in 
making the necessary boxes for the early orders, which go out 
in March and April, the wholesale orders leaving earlier than 
the retail. Of course the crew in winter is much less than at 
other times of the year, when anywhere from 90 to 225 men 
are employed. 
The stock of Rice Brothers is all carefully graded into four 
classes and in filling orders this is always taken account of. 
The largest fruit trees sent out are eleven-sixteenths and up, 
five to seven feet in height. The largest ornamentals are 
about fourteen feet high. Bulbs are kept in storage in special 
partitions, as are rhododendrons, bay trees, and a great 
variety of other plants. 
Jackson and Perkins Company, Newark, New York 
The offices and the storage plant of this progressive 
company are situated in the town of Newark. The firm does 
a large retail and wholesale trade, besides conducting a mail 
order business, not only in nursery stock but also in rose 
bushes and perennials. The storage and propagating facili¬ 
ties, as well as the other parts of the plant are, therefore, very 
extensive. The fact that the firm has nurseries in California 
as well makes the work during the winter heavy; for carloads 
of material are received from the coast. The firm fiUs orders 
all winter to a certain extent and so, though the boxes for the 
year’s shipments had already been made on February i, the 
men were kept busy at other lines of work, as loading, getting 
the French boxes from the station, working on the green¬ 
houses, making cuttings, trimming seedlings, and so forth. 
