168 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
being—created it. Our nursery farms extend right through 
the heart of this natural nursery region. Side by side we 
have the stiff soil in which the young peach tree must start to 
be free from borers and other enemies; and well-drained loam 
on which the young apple tree is freest from knot and gall; 
the gravelly hill for the young cherry tree; in the pockets be¬ 
tween the hills the deep, peaty loam for the pear; and in 
others the alluvial soil—mixture of sand and humus—for the 
hedge plant, reproducing identically its habitat on the Amoor 
River in Siberia. We have at command an almost unlimited 
quantity of fresh land which enables us to grow all trees and 
plants on clean, uncontaminated soil. Our open winters en¬ 
able us to ship stock dug right fresh from the ground instead 
of the stale, cellared stock often sold. The result is that 
trees and plants grown here are acclimated—that is, at home 
over the whole country, north, south, east and west—and are 
surer to live and succeed than if they did not have this ad¬ 
vantage. All that we ask is that you compare our trees with 
the common run. The huge, gawky size of common trees is 
a mere matter of heavy manuring, and when not backed up 
by root growth is a positive disadvantage. But note the 
wealth of roots of our trees and the perfect balance between 
root and tree, and the general business-like look of the whole 
combination. We destroy all over-size trees as carefully as 
all under-sized ones. 
“Our method of doing business, of cutting out and denounc¬ 
ing the tree agent, who, as a rule, not only gets 50 to 65% 
commission, but whose slick tongue often foists upon the pub¬ 
lic all sorts of worthless varieties of trees and plants, has 
made us many enemies. For strange to say, most of the 
nursery stock of the country is still sold in that old before- 
the-flood way. The results of our attitude in this respect is 
that many of those old-method nurserymen, their agents and 
henchmen, attack us in all sorts of ways—openly, secretly, in 
the papers and out of them. They have been at it for thirty 
years, but we have thriven by it, for the people to whom our 
method of selling direct has saved hundreds and thousands 
of dollars, see through these attacks and stand by us. When 
we find a new or apparently new variety of fruit, we pay more 
attention to its merits than to its antecedents. Among the 
varieties thus propagated are the summer and fall Ambrosia 
Apple, the Wine, Ambrosia, Four-in-one Peach; the Tip Top 
and Never-Stop berry; the Queen of Sheba Violet, etc. We 
are not absolutely sure that all of them are new varieties. 
We are dead sure that they are good varieties.” 
My idea in presenting the above (taken from a catalogue of a 
nurseryman, though not a member of our association) was to 
get our members who use language and cuts just as misleading, 
to really adjust themselves to real Modern Methods. 
THE PRESS 
Both of our nursery trade papers and several of the leading 
farm journals were asked to fumigate their columns of one 
nurseryman’s copy, who was advertising plants intentionally 
mixed. The press in all sections of the country has been very 
kind to the nursery interests during the past year. Several of 
our leading farm papers have taken a definite interest in assist¬ 
ing their subscribers in adjusting claims and in recovering from 
unscrupulous concerns. One middle-western farm paper has a 
specifically-organized service for this purpose. One of the old¬ 
est and strongest farm papers of the east publishes an editor’s 
column each week in which cases of grievances are made pub¬ 
lic. Since this Association began its vigilance work this editor 
submits his complaints to your Vigilance Committee instead of 
publishing them first, or as I note in a recent issue, publishes 
them in some other section of the paper. I quote the following 
from last week’s issue. 
Koster’s Blue Spruce. 
‘ Recently I odrered a Koster’s blue spruce from a supposedly 
reliable nursery. The tree came, and looks like a plain, ordin¬ 
ary Norway Spruce; no trace of blue in its foliage. Upon my 
complaining to the company about this, they advised me that 
the tree was a genuine Koster’s and after being acclimated to 
my soil would undoubtedly become as blue as any. Personally 
I doubt this, as I have another tree, a genuine Koster’s of blue 
color, and this tree did not change in any color after growing 
for three years. Have any of our readers had any experience 
with this tree? Can I expect it to turn blue? Tree is about 2 
feet high. C. B. M., Springs, Pa.” 
The editor in his reply was unusually “tame” in answering 
this complaint, but the last paragraph is as follows: 
I think thei e is no question that you are justified in strongly 
insisting that this green tree be replaced with a genuine Kos¬ 
ter’s blue.” 
In our daily correspondence relating to complaints, the follow¬ 
ing letter shows why our customers are compelled to go to the 
farm papers and entomologists for adjustment. 
“We are sorry to say that we have no record of an order 
from you, and we are sure that you are mistaken in your claim 
that you bought these trees from us. You must remember that 
there are eight separate and distinct nurseries at this place, and 
you must have confused us with some other one of these nur¬ 
series.” 
It would be entirely possible for me to read to you many com¬ 
plaints of a similar nature. Your committee has handled a 
number of complaints without the usual publicity. A meeting 
for a round table discussion during this convention of the lead¬ 
ing mail order nurseries, to try and raise the standards of their 
business, and discontinue the use of misleading statements, ex¬ 
aggerated cuts and distorted copy, would be appreciated by the 
farm papers and a benefit to the nursery interests as a whole. 
A recent Abe Martin cartoon sent out by the National News¬ 
paper Service, copyrighted, reads as follows: 
“Ole friends that used t’ call around an’ spend th’ evenin’ on 
th’ verandy now call up and say, ‘We passed your house yister- 
day’. Th’ saxis Abyssiniensis, or Abyssinian Willow, that Uafe 
Bud bought of a nursery agent last fall, is now one o’ tli’ most 
promising slippery elm trees in tli’ neighborhood.” 
SEEDLINGS 
Around 1800 there was an interesting and eccentric character, 
“Johnny Appleseed,” who sowed apple seed over the wild and 
wooley West; he considered pruning and grafting wicked. Now, 
jumping a hundred years, we have one “Curculio Lindley,” 
chairman of a Vigilance Committee, who considers seedlings of 
all kinds listed by nurserymen in 5-6 ft. and 11-16 in. and up 
grade, a wicked practice. Many years ago Russian Mennonites 
brought apricots to Kansas and Nebraska. A few of these seed¬ 
lings named and budded are a valuable addition for Northern 
latitudes, but the O. R. variety, commonly listed and sold, will 
give many types. Russian and Multi caulos mulberry are widely 
sold by enterprising agents as fruit bearing trees, but their use 
should be restricted to windbreaks in the Northwest, and the 
latter for propagating purposes in other sections. Angers 
Quince, a seedling stock used for budding, also for dwarfing 
apple, and for budding broadleaved ornamentals in the South. 
Prunus americana, Common wild plum of the North, a seed¬ 
ling listed by some concerns, not in their ornamental depart¬ 
ment, but with other budded and grafted varieties. 
As a retail nurseryman, you would not dare catalogue any of 
the above named seedlings, any more than you would peach or 
apple seedlings, so why should they appear in a wholesale list? 
Cut back seedlings, especially pecan and peach, are in quite 
heavy demand, especially in some sections of the South. It is 
no trouble to point out the purpose for which they are wanted. 
When they are not cut-back, then what? They get into the 
hands of irresponsible dealers and wild-cat nurserymen, who 
simply sell and deliver the trees for what they are not. Selling 
seedlings is not a credit to the nursery industry. 
Honestly, I can’t see any difference between the dealer who 
delivers seedling trees and the nurserymen who grow them and 
sell them knowing what is going to be done with them. The 
grower may “wash his hands” and say they are sold under their 
true label, but he can’t wash his conscience. The high price of 
fruit trees for the past few years will cause some nurserymen 
to bud the cheap seedlings and sell as budded stock. The re¬ 
tailer is condemned, and I think I voice the opinion of the mem¬ 
bers of our association generally in condemning the reliable 
nurserymen who sell them. 
“Full many a seedling peach tree grows, 
To leaves and limbs and lots of wood, 
Its only crop is leaves and lots of scales, 
’Twould be an Elberta, if it only could.” 
Last year our Market Development Committee made an im¬ 
pressive showing by hanging copy of their work half wav 
around this room, trying to show you rather than tell you the 
thousands of customers they had reached by this method. As 
the Vigilance Committee backs up the work of our advertising 
committee, I thought that I could best show you rather than 
tell you of the past year’s work. I wish I could report in just 
two words, “All’s well,” but my correspondence comprises 
forty-six separate files, many files containing several com¬ 
plaints against one firm. 
The Vigilance Committee work is constructive criticism and 
constructive work; you are cussed if you do, and kicked if you 
don t. Only by a full, free and frank report, calling names of 
different papers, organizations and firms, could I get you to 
grasp the importance of this work. As I do not deem it wise 
to do that, I will briefly outline (without stenographer’s notes, 
please) some matters that have been called to our attention. 
I have attempted to give you within a brief space of time an 
