294 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
waiikee. 
Sliortly afterwai'cls IIh' family emigrated to Webster 
City, Iowa, wlien' Ids father established a cattle farm 
on the wild l»ut l)eautifid prairie. In one of Mr. Farr’s 
famous catalogs In* refers to this prairie as the environ¬ 
ment which instilled in him the love of plants and nature. 
After att('nding high school and seminary, Mr. Farr 
obtained a teacher’s eertiticate at the age of seventeen. 
Ilis mother, in the meantime, had bought a piano and he 
had taken some lessons. In a short time he came to be 
considered a musical prodigy. As related in his biogra¬ 
phy, he \Nas sent to the New England Conservatory of 
Music, for t\\() y('ars. lie ic'turned to Webster City in 
1885 to establish a music business. A few years later 
he sold the business with the intention of coming east to 
complete his education at Boston. Upon his arrival 
there he accej)ted an offer to go with a music house in 
Philadelphia, where he remained for five years. His bus¬ 
iness trips occasionally brought him to Reading, and 
there he finally established a music business. 
Mr. Farr is survived by his widow, Anna Willis Farr, 
and his sister, Mrs. J. 0. Crawford, of Chicago, Illinois. 
THE YOUNC NURSERYMAN 
It was with interest I read an article in the National 
Nurseryman under date of October 1924, entitled “The 
Young Nurseryman.” My curiosity was aroused as to 
the standing of the imknown author. If he is an em¬ 
ployer I am more than pleased to knov/ of his appreci¬ 
ation of the essential accomplishments and physical fit- 
Jiess, vital in the make up of a successful nursery assist¬ 
ant; because be will then also fully realize what an as¬ 
sistant is worth. I am one of very, very many who have 
deserted a trade, or better a profession as he says "for 
some other occupation.” 
The nursery game offered me no future. However my 
P'resent position in the "su|)plies” dej)artment of a whole¬ 
sale florist house demands as a fundamental idea, an 
undertanding of flowers. This understanding of flowers 
is bred of the love for them, love for a plant, and love of 
nature. I recall talks with colleagues in both England 
and Cermany on the subject and compare them with 
business talks I have had in the last year with my j)res- 
ent working acciuaintance. Alore than ever do I realize 
what understanding, intelligence and real downright 
love for the trade, a nursery hand, an honest-to-goodness 
gardener has to have. Today I hear prices, efficiency, 
(|uality; but never the feeling and affection expressed 
which were ever present in the talks on plants. Those 
living and tender cond)inations of nature and man’s in- 
t(dligence and perseverence, which it was our pride to 
grow to perfection. More than ever am I eonvineed that 
a nurseryman is entitled to just the same standard of 
living as the man in any other trade. 
It is foolish to say, that given the salary on which he 
can to some extent save, a nursery assitant will become 
his own boss and so add to competition. The striving 
of most nursery workers to become independent growers 
is simply and solely because they have no future as em¬ 
ployees. Lack of ca])ital prohibits their l)usiness ideas 
Iteing put into execution and they quit the trade, “believe 
me” with heavy hearts and the losers are the men who 
need them. Grand old nunsery game, cradle of European 
forests, of the choicest gems of nature, trees and plants 
which delight the eyes and make the world a better place 
to live in for both rich and poor, may it thrive and draw 
to it the best of the youth of the land. 
Alhert G. R.4RK0, Lansdowne, Pa. 
IS A COLLEGE COURSE IN GARDENING REALLY 
WORTH WHILE? 
Is college ti'aining a rc'ally worth-while asset to a 
young man, bent on making gardening his life’s pro¬ 
fession? After pondering over the pros and cons, the 
victory must be given to the pros, for while both the 
commercial and private gardeners have contended for 
some years that the only way to become a skilled garden¬ 
er or florist was to start at the bottom and work up with 
file "pick and shovel” that is, by means of practical ex¬ 
perience, it is now being realized that the boy who has 
the theory of horticulture on which to lay his practical 
experience, can advance more quickly and in the end 
become a more capable gardener than the boy w^ho has 
not had similar advantages. 
The best soldier is not the one wdio is rushed out into 
w ar with no training, but one who has had preparation, 
had his muscles hardened, and has gained technical 
know ledge. So it is wdth the youth who desires to be¬ 
come an efficient gardener. The college graduate at the 
foot of the ladder is like the trained gardener, his muscles 
are hardened and he has gained a theoretical knowledge 
of horticulture and is ready for the task before him. Do 
you doubt that he will leave the apprentice behind him? 
Not that the apprentice will never reach the top; if he is 
energetic, he will certainly do so, but he must do his 
hardening as he climbs, and it will therefore take him 
that much longer to reach the goal of his ambitions. 
If two young men were selected, equal in every re- 
s[)ect, physically and mentally, graduates from the same 
school and of similar standing, and the one w^ere placed 
in college and the other sent out as an apprentice, you 
would observe certain things to be true. The man in 
college spends his time equally proportioned between 
book study and practical w ork, while the apprentice lab- 
(u-s hard all day and w hen night comes and he endeavors 
to study, he is not physically able to do so. The college 
youth has the advantage of being able to concentrate first 
upon his studies and then upon the practical wa)rk, w ith 
the advantage of having the theory already learned. The 
apprentice is doing both at the same time. To be sure 
not every college man will reach tlie top; nor every ap- 
])rentice, even though the apprentic(‘ may be just as 
eager to get ahead, because he will not be engaged in do¬ 
ing tw o things at once. The college man w ill also have 
o})|)ortunity for other things on the w ay. 
The college builds a firm foundation in training young 
men for gardening, as in training them for any other pro¬ 
fession. It teaches the students facts; it teaches them 
liow" to use these facts—how^ to talk to ])eople. Merely to 
leach students a series of facts is a waste of time, unless 
they are taught how to reason and how to make use of 
