2i6 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
salers and joV)bcrs. The classes of firms which receive these 
are di\nded as follows: 40 percent nurserymen, 40 percent 
florists, and 20 percent seedhouses. There is besides a large 
business done in raffia, which is shipped from Madagascar 
and sold here to florist and nursery supply houses and schools. 
As many as 500 bales of it arrived recently on the Kroonland. 
As many as 1370 bales of bay trees arrive in one shipment, 
but they arc, of course, not seen at the office, but are for¬ 
warded directly to their destination from their piers here. 
The demand has exceeded the supply in most lines of 
stock. This is explained by a number of things. The first 
that the crop in Europe was short, owing to an unfavorable 
season and second, to the fact that the demands in the 
United States have been increasing. Whether this increase is 
due to the increasing population, or whether it is due to the 
greater interest in things horticultural, or whether it is due 
to booms, like the apple boom of the northwest is hard to say. 
The fact remains that a similar condition has been noticeable 
for the last ten years. As long as the business has existed a 
yearly increase in the demands and in the profits has taken 
place. 
In conversation with the head of the firm, Mr. James 
McHutchison, we found he had something to say on the 
problems vital to the nurserymen of the United vStates. 
As regards federal inspection it was his opinion that while 
federal inspection may be necessary, the federal law should 
be final as applied to all states. As it is now, the federal 
inspection, which takes place at the port of entry, is worth¬ 
less in some states and carries absolutely no weight with it. 
Here indeed is there great need for refonn. 
As regards duties Mr. McHutchison was particularly 
strong in his expression regarding them. A sensible revision 
of the tariff on import plants is necessary, for as the duties 
are at present, they are neither relative nor comparative, 
but represent merely the whim and humor of their makers. 
A man that understands the nursery business ought to make 
the revision. 
In order to keep in personal contact with the foreign 
growers, who are very independent, because of the great 
demand for their stock, Mr. McHutchison goes over to 
Europe every year. He had already had passage booked on 
the ill-fated Titanic for this year’s trip. English is used in 
all the foreign correspondence as well as the personal conver¬ 
sation with the growers, which shows that with all their 
independence the foreigner greatly values his American trade. 
Publicity of the ordinary type is of little use in developing 
new business, as the finu has got its well established trade. 
And yet with all that a system of keeping in touch and keep¬ 
ing tab on customers has been developed to a high degree of 
efficiency by the finn. Being shown the various means 
employed to this end seems like spending a day at a Business 
Method Show in Madison Square Garden. 
Edward L. Bernays. 
AMERICAN NURSERY COMPANY 
Producers as well as Importers 
The American Nursery Company, whose sales offices are 
in the Singer Building, New York, controls both the F. & F, 
Nurseries at Springfield, N. J., and the Bloodgood Nurseries 
at Flushing, N. Y. The latter are the oldest nurseries 
in the United States, having been established in 1790. 
The company of which Mr. Theodore Folk is president, 
Mr. William Flimmers, vice-president, and Mr. H. E. 
Holden, the sales manager, owns between 500 and 600 acres 
of ground, where the stock, sold to both wholesale and retail 
trade is grown. Much of the trade is the supplying of 
private estates and Mr. Holden lays stress upon the fact 
that this trade has been built upon solid lines, with no out¬ 
side agents and very conservative advertisement. 
Almost their entire stock is grown in this country, their 
specialties consisting of shrubs, vines, evergreens and orna¬ 
mentals. The biggest trade has been in Norway maples, 
which are used for avenue and street. There is a large 
demand at present from the small towns of New Jersey and 
Long Island. The recognition of the value of shade trees is 
shown by the fact that there are in most of these towns shade 
tree commissions whose duty it is to seek out and buy trees. 
This year, which has been the heaviest the nurseries 
have ever had, has been especially a year of rhododendrons. 
While many of these plants have been imported direct from 
Holland and England, the domestic rhododendron has 
gained great favor here owing to its greater hardiness. 
Instead of winter storing, heeling is practised exclusively, 
owing to the demand for freshly dug stock. 
Mr. Holden calls attention to the fact that great preference 
is shown for plant materials of the hardy perennial type. 
This is in accord with the tendency to live in the country the 
year round. People plant their gardens with a view to 
permanence, nowadays. 
M. C. Meikel & E. L. Bernays. 
ANDRE L. CAUSSE 
Representing a Noted French Firm 
Mr. Andre Causse, who since 1883 has been agent for the 
LeRoy Nurseries, with an office in New York, explained that 
nurseries are only a side line of his work. The greater portion 
of his time is devoted to the importation of dried fruits. 
Indeed he told us that he has even suggested that the agency 
which he holds be turned over to a younger man, a suggestion, 
however, which met with so little favor, that he has been 
dissuaded from the idea of retiring from the nursery field. 
He still attends the National Nurser3mien’s Convention 
regularly, not so much with the idea of meeting new people, 
but rather that he may keep in touch with his old customers; 
and a little too, one gathers, just for the sentiment of it all. 
Mr. Causse does not specialize in any one thing, but deals 
in both fruit stocks and ornamentals. Apples, pears and 
quinces he believes to be in the lead in the present day. 
But with the growing wealth of the country and the enlarge¬ 
ment of the country life idea, there has come the greater 
demand for ornamental plants, the two favorites at present 
being the azalea and the rhododendron. 
In regard to the new inspection system, providing for 
inspection, not at the port of entry, but at the final destina¬ 
tion, Mr. Causse has nothing but praise. Before the adop¬ 
tion of this method stock was often damaged at the port of 
entry by frost or careless handling. 
M. C. Meikel & E. L. Bernays. 
