32 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
PACKING 
Packing is one of the big unsolved problems of tbe 
nursery business. Even in local deliveries where the 
nurseryman’s own wagon or truck delivers tbe stock to 
llie purchaser, there is much room for improvement. 
Some container or some method of protection whereby 
the tree, plant or shrub could be delivered so it would 
come to no harm if it were left unattended to for several 
days, is perhaps the ideal theory, and the nearer it could 
be approached tin 1 better it would be. 
Take truck deliveries for instance, of the retail orders. 
Goods are often delivered with roots exposed. While 
they may be covered and protected while on a truck, de¬ 
livering them at the residence with bare roots on a 
windy, dry day, perhaps to someone who does not know 
the proper care, is likely to very materially injure them. 
For local deliveries by truck, it is seldom the nursery¬ 
man goes to the trouble of separately tying or baling or 
boxing each delivery, yet would not such a method be 
worth while? 
In the case of evergreens, as they are dug with a ball 
and individually burlapped, there is considerable more 
satisfaction in handling them. Why could not this plan 
be followed with trees, shrubs, and other plants? While 
it would not be feasible to dig with a ball, each plant as 
dug could have its roots tied up with moss or some such 
material as would keep it in shape until it could be put 
in the ground. 
Packing and shipping by freight and express is fairly 
well brought down to a science in first class nurseries. 
They turn out boxes and bales that are a credit to the 
workman, and the stock arrives as fresh and in as good 
condition as when it was first taken out of the ground. 
It only needs proper handling at destination to practically 
insure success. 
The big problem is to make nursery stock so easily 
procured, that it will become as much a habit to buy 
plants for the yard as it is for people to buy things to 
decorate the interior of their house. 
Too many nurserymen take the stand that as soon as 
they have dug up a good tree and delivered it their re¬ 
sponsibility ceases. They expect the planter to have all 
the knowledge necessary for its future handling and 
care. This is a very poor stand to take, and is one which 
will not co-operate with the market development idea. 
We note in other lines, such as foodstuffs, what won¬ 
derful strides have been made in the method of packing, 
and in the carriers which have so tremendously increased 
their popularity. Would it not be wise for the retail nur¬ 
seryman especially to concentrate on the subject, with 
the idea of improving the distribution of bis products, as 
well as tbe growing and the popularizing of the demand? 
It would be a great tiling when the gardening fever 
begins to be prevalent in spring, if Mr. Suburb could 
drop into a store or nursery warehouse, or other distri¬ 
buting point, and carry away with him plants properly 
packed, without having to wait for them to be done up, 
or having to leave an order for them to be delivered 
some time when it would be convenient for him to plant. 
Most plants, especially when in a dormant condition, 
lend themselves to handling in such a way. They can be 
kept out of the ground for a reasonable length of time 
provided their roots are properly protected, or the same 
conditions created around them as exist when they are 
in the soil. 
In other words, it means keeping them a little moist, 
and the air away from them. It may be that the real so¬ 
lution will be the retail distributors who will purchase 
the stock from the grower and then pack them in such 
way as they can be readily distributed to the retail buyer 
in ones, twos or such quantity as the customer desires. 
Most nurseries are planned along the line of selling 
things in quantity. Most retail purchasers are more apt 
to order things by the single unit. 
There are many difficulties in the way, but none that 
are insurmountable. 
There was a time and it is not very ancient history 
when perishable foodstuffs could only be gotten under 
certain conditions, until the packing houses and distri¬ 
buting agencies got busy and made staples of them in 
daily use for everyone. 
It was not the farmer, fruit grower, or producer that 
accomplished the seeming impossible with other lines of 
perishable goods, but tbe selling or distributing agencies. 
Shall we have to look to the middleman to make it as 
easy for the planter to buy a dormant rose that will grow 
as a quart of milk or a box of cherries? 
REPLACING TREES 
The Stark Rros. Nui series and Orchards Company, 
Louisiana, Mo., have taken a bold step in relation to 
the custom of replacing stock that fails to live. 
They publish in their lists the following statement:— 
“We do not replace stock that fails to live. Possible 
neglect of tbe planter and unavoidable climatic condi- 
tiontions prevent our guaranteeing our plants to live. 
We deliver the stock to transportation company in good 
condition; our responsibility ends there. 
If the stock is damaged in transit, claim for damages 
should be promptly made on transportation company.” 
The subject of replacement has always been an irri¬ 
tating one and most nurserymen have had rather a loose 
policy in regard to it, some giving a guarantee of replace¬ 
ment for the purpose of getting business or through fear 
of losing a customer, others offering to replace failures at 
a 50% reduction. 
Whatever policy the individual nurseryman may 
adopt in relation to the subject, it should be one that 
does not bring discredit to the trade, or work to the dis¬ 
advantage of his brother nurseryman. 
The conditions of sale as outlined by Stark Bros, are 
fairly well followed in deals between nurserymen, but it 
is when shipping to the retail customer the rule goes to 
pieces. It is not easy to stand by the theory that the 
goods become the property of the purchaser the moment 
the bill of lading is made out. 
The nurseryman shipping a large bill of goods to the 
retail customer is distinctly at a disadvantage when he 
receives a letter stating, “The plants received from you 
do not look as if they were going to live I shall withhold 
payment until I see how they will turn out. Of course 
the nurseryman feels like fighting him with his fists and 
through the law up to the supreme court if necessary to 
