THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
331 
vagaries and inconsistencies of behavior are to be noted as 
would appear entirely unexplainable. Hardiness is in¬ 
herently perfect adaptation of a plant to its surroundings. 
A plant may be satisfactorily hardy in a region where a 
temperature of minus 20° is frequently registered, while it 
may winterkill in another locality where the temperature 
does not fall below zero. For example, our attention has re¬ 
cently been called to the fact that American white ash, 
Carolina poplar, and the vigorous Norway maple suffered from 
winter-killing on Nantucket Island, where the minimum tem¬ 
perature fell little if any below zero during the past winter. 
Yet these trees lost a considerable proportion of their tenninal 
shoots. An examination showed this loss to be due to the 
imperfect ripening of the wood in the autumn. Now, this 
imperfect ripening was in turn to be charged to the peculiari¬ 
ties of the season. The long, wanii, and relatively moist 
autumn encouraged late growth, and the imperfect storing 
of the buds and wood tissue with reserve food material. 
It has long been noted that some of the hardy New 
England trees and shrubs, when transplanted'to the British 
Isles, winterkill in the relatively moist and mild climate of 
England. For the opposite reason, many English plants 
fail when brought to this country, for the reason that they 
are products of a long growing season, and that when brought 
to this region they continue growing until stopped by frost. 
The result is the same, namely, in the production when 
winter comes round of imperfectly ripened wood or in other 
words imperfectly stored cell tissue. 
It is worthy of note also that some plants possess that 
character which we recognize as detenninate growers. In 
other words, they have a definite period of growth and 
ripen up their wood at the end of that period, and are un¬ 
influenced by conditions favorable to growth or otherwise 
which may follow this season. An excellent example of this 
is found in the box elder of the American Northwest. It 
grows with great rapidity during the early part of the season, 
ceases growth early, forms its terminal buds, drops its leaves, 
and prepares for winter at an exceptionally early period. 
The Duchess apple, the product of a region of short summe; 
heat, is another example of the same type. The gooseberry 
and currant, cold-blooded plants from the North, also furnish 
examples which illustrate this point. These plants then are 
the products of definite climatic conditions, and are developed 
by a long process of natural selection. The whole question 
then, or at least a large portion of this question of hardiness, 
comes back to the principle originally announced, namely, 
that of adaptation. 
NURSERIES OF NEW YORK STATE 
“There are 675 tree nurseries in New York State, accord¬ 
ing to the figures in the state agricultural department. 
“These nurseries embrace 11,554 acres of land, and contain 
approximately 14,000,000 apple trees, 6,700,000 pear trees, 
1,100,000 dwarf pear trees, 8,600,000 plum trees, 10,700,000 
cherry trees, 1,500,000 quince trees, 1,167,000 apricot trees, 
5,100,000 ornamental trees, 13,000,000 ornamental shrubs, 
6,900,000 currant bushes, 15,580,000 grape vines, 122,000 
herbaceous plants and 2,116,000 gooseberry plants.” 
NURSERY PRODUCTS OF THE UNITED STATES 
The total value of nursery products reported from 5582 
establishments in 1909 was $21,051,000; an increase of 591 
establishments, or 11.8 per cent, and $10,927,000, or 107.9 
per cent, in ten years. In 1909 the Middle Atlantic divi.sion 
ranked first with products valued at $4,355,000, as com¬ 
pared with $2,523,000 in 1899, an increase of $1,832,000, 
or 72.6 per cent, during the decade 1899-1909. Although 
the number of establishments reporting nursery products, 
1159, was greatest in the East North Central division, the 
latter ranked fourth, being exceeded in value of products by 
the Middle Atlantic, West North Central and Pacific divis¬ 
ions. In per cent of increase, the Pacific division ranked 
first with 377 per cent, the West South Central division 
second, 179.4 per cent, and the South Atlantic division third, 
117.4 per cent. 
Comparison of Florist and Nursery Products 
In both the florist and nursery industries, an increase was 
shown in the number of establishments and value of products 
for each geographic division. In both 1909 and 1899 the 
value of nursery j^roducts was greater than that of^^rist 
products in the West North Central, East and WpSt South 
Central and Pacific divisions. This difference was partic¬ 
ularly marked in the West North Central and Pacific 
divisions in 1909. Although the number of establishments 
reporting florist products was greater than those reporting 
nursery products in the East South Central division, the 
value of products in this division was greater than the value 
of florist products. The very much greater value of florist 
products in the country as a whole was contributed almost 
entirely by the New England, Middle Atlantic, and East 
North Central divisions. However, the value reported from 
the West North Central and Pacific divisions was over 
$2,000,000. 
Value of Products by States 
In 1909 New York ranked first with a total value of 
products of $5,149,000; Pennsylvania was next with $3,803, 
000, and Illinois third with $3,695,000. In 1899 the order 
was the same, except New Jersey was third. However, 
in 1899 the value of products for these three states amounted 
to but little more than half that of 1909. Increases are 
shown in every state, except the District of Columbia, where 
in 1899 government institutions were included in the census 
reports while in 1909 they were not enumerated. 
The three ranking states in value of nursery products in 
1909 were New York $2,751,000, California $2,213,000, and 
Texas $1,253,000. The standing in 1899 was New York, 
Iowa and Illinois. An increase in the value of nursery prod¬ 
ucts was reported from every state, except Maine, Vermont, 
Virginia, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia. 
The gains in all three states of the Pacific division were 
especially remarkable, more jiarticularly in Washington, 
where the value in 1909 was almost twenty times as great 
as that of 1899. 
Be sure to put the date of your catalogue in a prominent place. 
Oftentimes it will save a lot of time and trouble. 
