THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
173 
ming of seedlings, and here eight men and a foreman are 
busily engaged all winter. The foreman in the nursery 
business is a man of great importance, and in the places 
visited has invariably seemed to be a man of energy and a 
thorough student of the practical side of the business. The 
seedlings imported from France, are shipped during the 
winter by the Franco-American Seedling Company, a co¬ 
operative organization of wholesale nurserymen in the 
Geneva district, who combine for the purpose of buying 
seedlings grown for them in France. The business on the 
Continent is in the hands of a Frenchman who does all the 
contracting for seed growing with the French peasants and 
attends to the shipping, in bond to Syracuse and thence to 
Geneva, where the stock is officially inspected. 
After the seedlings are trimmed, they are graded, packed 
in bundles of 50 each, and are brought to the adjoining 
cellar, where they remain till they are brought out for the 
spring planting. The neatness and order in which these 
stacks are kept is admirable. Besides seedlings, a number of 
cuttings and French ornamentals, lately received, were stored 
here. Among these are a new French willow for tying 
purposes. It is interesting to note that it is often hard in 
the early spring, when occasional warm weather may set in, 
to keep this cellar cool enough to prevent the seedlings from 
sprouting. Tons of ice often have to be used to prevent the 
cellar from getting too warm. Such are the extremes the 
nurseryman has to contend with in this climate. 
As to business, past and future, there has been very little 
during the past winter, as the early cold weather put a 
curtailment on the orders from the retail trade. 
STUART & COMPANY 
(Omitted from Newark sketch last month) 
Stuart & Company are in the town of Newark, where 
their offices and their warehouse facilities are located, while 
their nurseries of about 430 acres of tile drained land are 
located about Orleans. 
The storage and packing houses at Newark are built 
with a view of economizing time and labor as much as 
possible. The first is a large frost proof building with three 
air spaces in the walls and paper between the boards. Al¬ 
though there is a hot water system present on the blizzard 
side of the building, it is little used except in case of emer¬ 
gency, and has not been used thus far this winter. The trees 
in this storage room are not covered at the roots with excel¬ 
sior, nor are the roots very much dampened. It is noticeable 
that the stock is free from mold or mildew. This storage 
room is flanked on both sides by packing room, in which at 
the present time some trees are stored. 
The roots of the trees in the packing rooms are covered 
with excelsior, because the building here is not as frost proof 
as the main storage building. The other packing room is 
being used temporarily as a work shop for the making of 
boxes, but even this work had to be curtailed owing to the 
inclement weather preventing lumber from being shipped 
down from the hills. A few shipments made during the 
winter are protected from the cold by three thicknesses of 
paper. This arrangement of the main storage room in the 
middle with the two packing rooms at the ends saves time, 
labor, and trouble during the busy packing season. 
Another economical device in the packing department is 
an overhead rail in the packing room and movable scales, 
which slide along the rail. These enable the packer to lift, 
weigh, and bring the packing case from any spot to the 
wagon, all in one operation. 
The stock is stored in two tiers, an upper and a lower floor. 
On the upper floor we find a similar arrangement for saving 
time. A running ground where the orders are filled is in the 
middle, while two shoots lead down to the packing rooms 
at each end. There is also a tying room and a work room on 
the upper floor. Separate rooms for the storage of berries 
and roses are on the lower floor. In these the temperature 
can be easily regulated by the opening and closing of heavy 
double doors. 
Outside of the main storage room a smudge oven is used 
to prevent too great cold, because the firm believes that this 
is a safer method than the stove system, which may cause 
sparks. 
The order and the arrangement of the differept plants is 
very methodical. A diagram of the storage house, giving 
the place of every variety, is nailed up conspicuously and 
covered by a glass plate, because the workmen, in looking 
for a variety, always use their fingers in spelling it out, says 
Mr. Pitkin. Until he hit upon this method of plate glass ■ 
insurance the diagram had to be changed every day during 
the shipping season. Now it remains clean for a whole 
season. One has to be a student of the psychology of the day 
laborer to be a successful nurseryman nowadays. 
Shade trees, roses, and the ever present McIntosh apple 
seemed to be in especial demand. 
MeINTOSH AS A FILLER 
In eastern New York and New Jersey, McIntosh is a 
September apple. Its quality seems to vary considerably as * 
affected by elevation and soil. The true home of the 
McIntosh is the Saint Lawrence River region, and it reaches 
its highest excellence in northern latitudes. It is being 
planted extensively as a filler, but there are those who think 
it is not suited for this purpose, on account of its vigorous 
growth, and the fact that it is a long lived tree. On the 
other hand, it is an early bearer. 
THE ORCHARD 
“Red and russet, and yellow. 
Lying here in a heap,—• 
Pippins, rounded and mellow; 
Greenings, for winter keep; 
Seek-no-furthers, whose blushing 
The soul of a saint would try, 
Till his face showed the crimson, flushing 
The cheek of a Northern Spy.” 
—Farm Journal. 
Ben Hudnall, proprietor of the Floral View Nursery at Tyler, Texas, 
has removed his nursery to Pittsburg, Texas, where he has purchased 
a tract of land near town. He will devote his full time to the 
propagation of the rose, a select list of ornamental shrubs, trees and 
small fruits. 
The National Nurseryman Pub. Co.: 
Enclosed please find one dollar to renew our subscription for one 
year. We find The National Nurseryman very interesting and 
valuable. ^ ^ „ „ 
New York. J- J- Norton & Son. 
