ftbe national nurseryman 
FOR GROWERS AND DEALERS IN NURSERY STOCK 
Copyrighted 1909 by the National Nurseryman Publishing Co., Incorporated. 
Vol. XVII. ROCHESTER, N. Y., OCTOBER, 1909 No. 10 
A FORTNIGHT IN FRANCE 
An Interesting Letter from Mr. Geo. C. Perkins, of Jackson & Perkins Co., 
about the French Nurseries. 
Writing from on board the steamer “La Savoie” Mr. 
Geo. C. Perkins, of Jackson & Perkins, Newark, N. Y., sends 
a valuable article of interest to the nurserymen: 
I have just completed a hurried trip through the nursery 
sections of France, and it occurred to me that your readers 
might be in¬ 
terested in 
I; some account 
of it. The 
1; writing of it 
will also while 
4 ; away some of 
the time 
which hangs 
heavily on 
one’s hands 
during the 
■ i seven days of 
enforced idle¬ 
ness on the 
ocean. 
The grow¬ 
ing season 
has been a 
very unfavor¬ 
able one in 
France, the 
most unfavor¬ 
able in several 
years. The 
spring and summer were very cold, not only in Franee, but, 
as I hear from the numerous American tourists one meets, 
everywhere over Europe. It was so cold during the 
early spring that seeds germinated very badly and this was 
followed by a long drought extending well into the summer. 
Seedling Crop Short 
As nearly as I could determine from the numerous blocks 
I saw and from inquiries made at various places, the crop 
this season, does not average more than 60% of what should 
have been produced, under favorable weather conditions. 
Plentiful rains had fallen a short time before my arrival 
in France, so the country was then looking comparatively 
fresh and attractive. They came too late in the season to 
benefit the seedlings as earlier rains would have done, but 
nevertheless, they were most welcome to the French grow¬ 
ers. They will somewhat increase the percentages of the 
larger grades of seedlings for which the outlook about mid¬ 
summer was extremely discouraging to say the least. 
While all 
the leading 
French Nur¬ 
serymen grow 
some fruit 
tree stocks 
themselves, 
the greater 
part of the 
crop of the 
staple arti¬ 
cles, such as 
Apple, Pear, 
M yrobola n, 
Mahaleb.Maz- 
zard, is raised 
by small far¬ 
mers J»-T he 
nurserymen 
furnish the 
peasant far¬ 
mers the seed 
and contract 
with them to 
take the re¬ 
sultant crop at stated prices for the various grades. 
During my stay at Angers, Mr. Detriche took me around 
with him to see a number of his contract plantings; driving 
to those within a few kilometers distance, and hiring an 
automobile one day to visit some of the more distant ones. 
The latter day will always remain a red letter one in my 
memory. The weather was perfect, the country beautiful, 
and to spin along at the rate of 60 or 70 kilometers an hour, 
over those perfect French roads, was an experience to be 
long remembered. I then and there resolved that 1 would 
some day find time and money enough to take a motor trip 
thru France in company with my family. 
At each of the plantings which we visited, the farmer 
would walk about with us and there would be animated 
NURSERIES OF CHAS. DETRICHE, Sr., ANGERS, FRANCE. 
One of tne Storage Cellars where Stock is being Packed for Exportation 
