THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
3^9 
ing ]/ 2 to ^8 of an inch, commanding a ready sale to planters 
at $1,000.00 per thousand. 
Quite a number of inquiries for nursery stock of all 
kinds are coming to us from Texas, particularly for the 
popular varieties of grapes, which are so extensively grown 
in California. The fact that grapes mature somewhat 
earlier in Texas than they do here, will make that locality a 
very favorable one for securing the benefit of the trade on 
early shipments. 
Fresno, Cal. Geo. C. Roeding. 
ILLINOIS: BUSINESS PROSPEROUS 
Just finishing our fall shipping. During the sea¬ 
son our stock made an ex¬ 
ceptional growth and was 
finer than usual. Our Fall 
business was much heavier 
than usual, and to date or¬ 
ders booked for Spring 'ag¬ 
gregate fully thirty per 
cent, more than a year ago. 
The demand in all lines is 
brisk and we see no reason 
why nurserymen should 
not easily clean up very 
close on all items for Spring. 
Arthur Bryant & Son, 
Princeton, Ill. 
KANSAS GONE WET! 
I don’t know that I 
have anything for publica¬ 
tion that is of interest to _ 
the general trade. The season has not been one of the best 
and still nothing to complain of. It has been at fault on the 
wet side. The fact is Kansas has gone wet! We have been 
waiting for that dry year and still it does not come. Since 
1901 we have had plenty of rain. This year the rains have 
not come too often perhaps, but too excessive. The nur¬ 
sery growth has nevertheless been good and a great deal of 
fine stock has gone to a brisk market. In my experience 
of several years I have known a great many cars of trees 
go out of Topeka that brought only $250 to $300, but 
the same car this year brings from $1,000 to $2,000. 
The amount of apple seedlings this year in the upper 
grades is not equal to the demand and even now are selling 
at a big price. Of course the advance in price does not all 
go to the credit side of the ledger. The advance in labor 
has been rapid and the quality not as good as formerly. 
Yet we are inclined to be well satisfied with the situation. 
Grantville, Kas. A. L. Brooke. 
VIRGINIA 
We sell most of our trees at retail through agents and 
nearly all for fall delivery. We have sold about one fourth 
more than usual this season and as it has been a very dry 
fall we have had a hard time to get our trees dug, and we 
will be later getting through than usual and at this time 
of the year we are always anxious for fear that cold weather 
will catch us before we meet all of our deliveries. We are 
practically sold out of all fruit trees, and will have very 
little to offer to the trade for sping, except California 
Privet of which we have quite a surplus yet. 
The past season has not been a very good one for stock 
that was planted last spring. We had it very dry first 
and then too much rain during May and June and then 
very dry again during July. It was too dry during 
the early part of the budding season. We also had a 
second dry season during the budding season which occa¬ 
sioned a great deal of rebudding, but we think we got 
good stands at last. 
As we did not plant 
heavy of apples, spring, 
1908, we have had to buy 
a good many of some vari¬ 
eties, that we were short of, 
and have found it hard to 
get some of them. It also 
has been too dry for straw¬ 
berries; they have not the 
usual number of runners; 
we have consequently 
found it hard to fill up with 
these varieties, that we 
were short of. We planted 
more than usual last spring 
of everything except ap¬ 
ple and we hope to have 
quite a surplus above our 
retail orders for fall of 1910 
to offer to the trade 
Trial Grounds of Vilmorin—Andrieux et Cie 
Verrieres (near Paris), France 
FRUIT CROP IX VIRGINIA 
There has been a light crop of apples in Virginia this 
season, but those who have them and sprayed their trees 
have either sold for good prices or have them in cold storage. 
Our main varieties here for commercial orchards are Ben 
Davis, Grimes Golden, York Imperial, Winesap and 
Albemarle Pippin (for the Piedmont section). There has 
been a great deal of inquiry for these varieties this fall for 
commercial orchards and as they are very scarce, think 
there will be a demand for these same next fall, especially if 
we should have a good crop of apples next season. 
Richmond, Va. W. T. Hood. 
MICHIGAN SHIPPERS SATISFIED 
We have just finished our fall retail shipping, which 
shows a large increase, and we are pleased to report that we 
have never had prospects any more favorable for a fine 
business in the spring. A great many commercial orchards 
are to be planted in the spring, and we believe there never 
was a stronger demand for trees than there is at the present 
time. 
Monroe, Mich. I. E. Ilgenfritz’ Sons Co., 
T. I. Ilgenfritz, Sec.-Treas. 
MASSACHUSETTS SATISFIED 
Autumn 1909, finds Massachusetts’ nurserymen well 
satisfied with the season’s business. Prices on ornamental 
