THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
7 
ADDRESS RY W. (1. MeKAY, MADISON. WISCONSIN, 
REEORE THE MEETINO OF NORTHERN RETAIL 
NURSERYMEN’S ASSO. AT ST. PAUL. MINN. 
Ar])()i“ Day roadside planting has an ap|)eal in it whieh 
u|)()n first thought is very eonnnendable. We are all 
interested in Arbor Day for it ereates in the children of 
our schools an interest in trees, plants and shrubs and 
cultivates an aj)preeiation of the beauties of Nature. 
Eui'ther, it is intended to interest the earnest intelligent 
efforts of all the people, more especially in rural and 
suburban communities, in improving the surroundings 
of homes and school grounds, and it is with this in mind 
that many states have laws covering Arbor Day. 
This leads up to roadside planting, which needs to be 
considered carefully by nurserymen. Such movements 
are usually started by some club, Rotary, Kiwanis. Wo¬ 
men’s Clubs or the like. They consider first and fore¬ 
most how cheap the trees can be bought and if the club 
or organization buys the trees, that is about as far as 
they go. Even the planting is an after thought, and up 
to the time of the arrival of the trees has not been work¬ 
ed out. Very often, at the last moment, some experi¬ 
enced help is secured and the trees planted. This club 
or organization has not i)erfected arrangements nor do 
they have a fund for maintenance; hence results are 
unsatisfactory. 
No nurseryman can afford to commend any movement 
unless the same is conducted on sound business prin¬ 
ciples. The reaction on the nursery supplying the trees 
for roadside planting will surely come regardless of the 
fact that the trees did not have j)roper care and atten¬ 
tion and it would have been much better if the nursery 
had not furnished the stock at all. Very often we lose 
sight of this element in business. If we are to build 
business for the future, we must not encourage some¬ 
thing that is not sound. 
Some club, organization or individual may have effect¬ 
ed a proper arrangement to plant and care for roadsid(' 
planting. In that case nurserymen should encourag(‘ 
such planting by supplying carefully grown trees of uni¬ 
form size, for very often such trees are dedicated to 
soldiers who lost their lives in the late war. Hence nur¬ 
serymen should be very particular in furnishing sturdy, 
healthy trees, so that in case at any time a tablet is i)ut 
at the base of his tree or trees, the tree will be in keep¬ 
ing with the purj)ose for which it was j)lanted and 
dedicated. 
Arbor Day has been in efl't‘ct for many years and even 
today there are hundreds of school grounds where prac¬ 
tically no trees are visible. However, many trees have 
been planted by the children. All of w Inch bears out the 
statements above made and sums up the impractihility of 
roadside plaiding as it is now" conducted. Possibly in 
Minnesota, where you have a State Forester, it can be 
encouraged, esj)ecially in the prairie part of the state 
where mort' trees are needed. I shall be glad in the dis¬ 
cussion, which I hope will follow", to hear from Minne¬ 
sota nurserymen as to the care and attention these load- 
side plantings are receiving. 
In conclusion I want to call your attention to three 
kinds of j)lanting: 
First Plant tre(‘s and care for them. 
Second—Plant also the love of trees in the best soil 
—the heart of childhood and youth. 
Third—Plant likewise knowledge concerning trees. 
Now" if nurserymen encouraged these three kinds of 
planting it would oidy be a comparatively short time be¬ 
fore our states would be noted for sound judgment in 
tree matters. 
THE GARDENERS’ OPPORTUNITY 
Ry Martin C. Ebel 
At the annual fall exhibition of the Horticultural 
Society of New York, a number of new" names appeared 
in the list of successful prize winners w"hich have not 
heretofore been noticed as exhibitors. This was also 
found to be the case on studying the prize w"inning lists 
of some of the local shows. 
Does this not indicate that the old time interest in 
dowser show"s is being revived and that the owuiers of 
country estates are again disposed to support flower 
show"s as liberally as they did before the war caused a 
curtailment of expenses? I think so. I know of tw "0 
instances where gardeners, only recently placed in 
charge of the estates but who quickly gained the con¬ 
fidence of their employers, approached them to obtain 
permission to exhibit at the fall shows. Consent was 
granted but with grave doubts that the gardeners could 
successfully compete against the regular exhibitors with 
such short preparation. The results proved otherwise, 
however, and I am now" looking for great echievements 
at the International Flow er Show' next spring from these 
tw o estates, which never before exhibited, as the own¬ 
ers have now" become interested and their gardeners are 
quite enthusiastic. 
There are many other employers like those just re¬ 
ferred to, but there are also many gardeners w ho hesitate 
to ajiproach their emjiloyers w ith suggestions or recom¬ 
mendations that might revive old or install new interest. 
Rut why should they hesitate w hen the suggestions or 
recommendations they might make w ould be to the bene¬ 
fit of their emplowers? The employers cannot fathom 
w hat may be stored in their gardeners’ minds that would 
tend to improve their estates. 
No greater o])porlunity presents itself for the pro¬ 
fessional gardener to exploit his skill than at such 
events as are to occur in the spring of 1924, the Inter¬ 
national Flower Show at New York from March 17 to 22, 
the National Flower Show at Cleveland from March 29 
to April 6, and the National Orchid Show" at Boston in 
May. The time is none too soon to begin preparations. 
These show s are as dej)ejident for success on the small 
grower as they are on those who may compete in the 
larger classes, for it is the smaller classes for specimen 
l)lants and for one or two dozen cut blooms which help 
to make the shows interesting. The public enjoys study¬ 
ing the individual [)lants which is not always possible 
wlien the plants are gathered in a group of many 
varieties. As for Madame Estat(‘ Ow ner, she is gratified 
