262 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
sales, because the cotton fanners were in debt and 
could not buy, or because in a certain section cotton 
would only make a bale to eight acres? 
Here is where we need to make an educational appeal 
and spread some propaganda. 
Don’t say diversification or rotation. These words 
have been worn thread-bare. 
The ordinary farmer this year who has little or no 
cotton, but who has feed-stuff, fruit trees, berry vines, 
pecan trees (native or budded), chickens and eggs, 
some milk and butter to sell, enough home-raised meat 
for the most of the year, vegetables and other crops 
that should be grown on every farm, is not in debt, and 
is not saying he can not afford to buy trees. 
He is buying them! 
Let us carry this truth and appeal to every prospect¬ 
ive customer in our territory. Your advertising will help 
us, and ours will help you, and some day the South will 
show a production per farm equal to that of any other 
State. 
In 1920 Iowa ranked first in total value of farm 
crops, with $1,258,201,000.00. Texas was second with 
$1,101,610,000.00. Yet the average production in Texas 
per farm was $2,528.00; in Oklahoma, $2,777.00; and 
in Iowa, $5,899.00, more than twice as much as Okla¬ 
homa or Texas, although crops can be grown nearly the 
year round in the Southwest, and in Texas especially. 
We need to talk cows, chickens, hogs, corn, maize, 
feterita, sorghum, garden truck and FRUIT. And from 
personal experience I can tell you that fruit trees will 
sell this year. 
Let no one understand me to say that we nurserymen 
make our sales only in the country. On the other hand, 
the planting of fruit trees, berries, and pecans is in¬ 
creasing every year in the towns and cities. The demand 
for ornamentals is almost consuming our production 
and will require larger propagation of this line for ail 
time to come. We have now several times as much trade 
in the cities as we had years ago, and also a larger sale 
of ornamentals in the country than we had years ago. 
To come down to a few matters that have been or are 
before us, not quite so serious perhaps as stimulation 
of demand in a cotton country, yet having to do with the 
nursery business and affecting it to more or less extent, 
I wish to mention: 
1. A STATE NURSERY 
At the session of the Legislature last January, a bill 
was introduced, fostered by the State Forestry Associa¬ 
tion, calling for the establishment of a state nursery for 
the propagation of shade and forest trees, especially 
pine for the cut-over land of East Texas, and suitable 
trees for the more nearly tree-less portions of West 
Texas. This bill, however, as it was worded, allowed 
the propagation of any and all trees, shade and fruit, to 
be sold or given away by the state. 
Several nurserymen of Texas went to Austin in op¬ 
position to this bill 1 , and for that and other reasons, the 
bill failed to pass. 
I wish to say here that I am sure the Nurserymen of 
Texas heartily favor and will endorse any reasonable 
forestry policy that will restore the pine forests of East 
Texas and cover the barrenness of our prairies, and we 
commend the efforts of the Forestry Association to 
arouse an interest in this problem, and secure state aid 
if possible, but we do not believe in the establishment 
of a state nursery to grow and sell or give away trees 
that can be and are grown by Nurserymen cheaper than 
the state can possibly grow them. The state can not 
grow them as cheap as the Nurserymen for two reasons: 
1. The Nurseryman is on the job ten to fourteen 
hours a day, whiile the state would grow trees with 
eight hour a day labor. 
2. The Nurseryman lias many lines that require full 
time of himself and his help all the year, while the 
growing of forest trees would not keep a bunch of men 
busy all the year. 
This does not apply to the pines, which could not be 
transplanted successfully in large quantities, but which 
should be grown by sowing the seed on the land itself. 
It is no more the proper function of the state to em¬ 
bark in the nursery business than in any other business. 
2. SHADE TREES 
Harmful statements are sometimes made publicly and 
otherwise, that are not intended to be harmful, which 
nurserymen should correct. On last August 10, in one of 
our best Texas daily papers, was an article in which 
this statement was made: 
“Dallas is in need of 165,000 shade trees for the park¬ 
ing strips along its streets, and no supply of suitable 
trees is available in this or adjacent states. .. .As a re¬ 
sult, the afforestation program of the city is in a precar¬ 
ious situation.” 
I took this up with Mr. Gilliam, City Forester of Dal¬ 
las, and lie said it should have been stated that 165,000 
shade trees would be required to properly plant every 
street, avenue, and park in Dallas, but that the city 
could not think of putting out so many trees in one 
year; and in fact the needs for this year were all sup¬ 
plied, except for a few hundred Elm, Sycamore, and 
Hackberry. 
I have put Mr. Gilliam in touch with something like 
20.000 each of these trees in Texas alone. There are at 
least 300,000 shade trees available for street planting 
in Texas Nurseries to-day, beside large numbers in Ar¬ 
kansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. 
Nurserymen have been growing shades and preach¬ 
ing the gospel of beautiful homes and public grounds 
long before any other class of men or any institution or 
organization thought of it. We have been paid largely 
by having thousands of dollars worth of shade trees, 
in particular, dug and thrown away and larger sums 
charged off our books, as the shades were considered 
worth almost nothing because of no demand, 
We are glad to see the demand increasing, and the 
Nurserymen of the Southwest have now the trees of ail 
kinds that are needed, and will continue to have them. 
3. QUARANTINES 
One state has now made a ruling that all parcel post 
shipments of plants into that state shall be sent to cer¬ 
tain points for inspection, and shipper must send proper 
tags and postage to forward shipments on to consignee 
after inspectors have looked it over. 
This is necessary, of course, if every shipment is to 
be personally inspected, or unless an inspector can re¬ 
side in every precinct in the state. However, such a rul¬ 
ing makes it more trouble to ship than many orders are 
worth. It shows the necessity of uniform laws and some 
kind of uniform inspections. 
