THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
258 
VISITING MASSACHUSETTS NURSERIES 
At noon on Friday, a party of more than fifty nurserymen 
left the Hotel Somerset under Vice-president W. H. Wyman’s 
chaperonage for a trip to his nurseries at North Abington, 
eighteen miles south on the New York, New Haven & Hart¬ 
ford Railroad. In presenting an invitation to the convention 
to make this trip, Mr. Wyman modestly said that the nur¬ 
series were not large; but on the grounds we learned that 
there are two hundred acres in plants, and that Mr. Wyman 
also has an interest in a ])lant-growing establishment at South 
Framingham, not far off. Near the offices are some seventy- 
five acres, a large proportion of which is planted to ever¬ 
greens ; half a mile or so from hero are ten acres of ‘ ‘herbaceous 
stuff;” and three miles distant is the Bay. State Farm, 
planted to shade trees and some ornamentals. Mr. Ozroe 
Wyman, a brother of the i^roprietor, is the efficient foreman 
of this section of the nursery. 
But to begin at the beginning, we were whirled through the 
town, which was celebrating the two hun¬ 
dredth anniversary of its founding, in autos 
immediately upon our arrival, then pro¬ 
ceeded to do justice to a substantial meal 
provided by our host. At the close of this, 
Mr. John C. Chase of Derry, New Hamp¬ 
shire, started the ball rolling for some 
speech-making. Mr. Chase said: 
It is an old saying that some people are 
born great, some achieve greatness, and 
others have greatness thrust upon them. 
I have been selected to bo the goat of the 
occasion. My emaciated friend from Des 
Moines intimated to me that if I would 
break the ice, or set the ball rolling, he 
would rise to the occasion and become the 
presiding officer. I think that we should be 
lacking in appreciation if we did not ex¬ 
press ourselves at this time in regard to the 
attention that has been shown us by Mr. 
Wyman. And, therefore, Mr. Chainnan 
that I have made, with your consent, I move that the thanks 
of this body be tendered Mr. Wyman for his attention to 
us, his bringing us out here, his showing us this delightful 
old place, and for all that we expect to have after we leave 
this room; and, in the language of the Oriental, may his 
shadow never be less. 
Mr. Hill: I am quite sure that Mr. Chase has voiced the 
sentiments and feelings of every man around this board. 
Possibly many of us are not aware that we are dining near a 
historical spot, one which has figured very largely in the 
history and develojnnent of this country. We are right now 
in the territory of the Puritans. I am inclined to think our 
host is a descendant of these worthy ancestors. We know 
that he embodies many of the characteristics of these men. 
Those of us who have had the privilege of purchasing trees 
from him know that the question of honesty and integrity is 
maintained in him for which the Plymouth Rock people were 
noted. Those of us who noticed as we passed along the edge 
of his nursery know that he has an eye to beauty. We who 
not only have enjoyed the hospitality of Mr. Wyman today, 
but have been enjoying the hospitality of the committee of 
which he is a member, feel that he has the liberality and the 
spirit within him which makes him feel that the happiest 
moments of a man’s life are when he is trying to make others 
happy. 
Mr. Chase has very appropriately jjresented a resolution, 
which should be adopted by a rising vote. I will ask all who 
favor the resolution to indicate it by standing. 
Mr. Dix: I come from Utah, a long ways off—but after 
all it isn’t so far as it seems. I will say to those of you who 
hesitate to go to Portland next year, don’t get scared before 
you start. It is only a short journey, and you have three or 
four opportunities to break it on the way. We have a great 
country in Utah, and a great people. We have a beautiful val¬ 
ley, and beautiful mountains. The country is very productive. 
We have in Salt Lake City the best hotel between Chicago 
and San Francisco, and I am not afraid to say that it is better 
than I have yet seen in Boston. I hope to 
meet you all in Portland next June. 
Mr. Hill: I want you to stop in Iowa, 
because when you are there, you are in the 
best state in the Union. That is true. We 
raise in that state three hundred million 
bushels of corn every year. The worth of 
our corn product in Iowa is more than the 
world’s output of gold every year. The 
value of one year’s corn crop in Iowa is one 
hundred seventy-five millions of dollars. 
Mr. Wyman: I feel that this afternoon 
the pleasure is all mine. I don’t know when 
I have ever had the opportunity of seeing in 
this goodly town such an array of gentlemen 
from so large an area of country. I can 
assure you it is a great pleasure. I have a 
very high respect for the gentlemen of my 
calling, the nurserymen of the United States. 
I believe there is no class of men today of 
higher integrity than the nurserymen. 
Before I went into the nursery business myself, I went 
around selling trees from house to house. I used to hear a 
great many disparaging things said about nurserymen. I 
went into the business with the idea that I would try and 
redeem it. 
I went at it, and used as my trademark and on my litera¬ 
ture the words, ‘‘Value for value.” I began to get acquainted 
with the nurserymen, and I found them a very different class 
of men from what I had heard them represented. I am 
happy to say that this is no joking when I say, I believe the 
nurserymen of this country stand on a level with any other 
class of men doing bus ness in the United States. I have had 
dealings with a great many of you, and I have to say that I 
don’t believe there is a firm with whom I do business but is 
seeking to do the square, manly thing with their fellows. 
I say with all truthfulness it is a genuine pleasure to have 
you here. It is only a young nursery—I established it with 
my own hands in 1894; but we have some things of interest. 
I give you the keys to the nursery, and if there is anything 
you want, take it. 
W. H. WYMAN 
