THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
39 
shell fragments hit all around me. You can bet I did 
some tall stepping, gave her all the gas she’d take and 
just tore on out into the open country. 
“Will tell you briefly the rest of our work. From Sois- 
sons we went to a town near Paris, where we had a 
week’s rest and then had a nice long trip to the Argonne 
Woods, to the right of Verdun. 
“Here we stayed some six weeks and were there when 
the great offensive of July 14 broke. You know how the 
Bodies were surprised and the tide turned so quickly, 
bringing victory. From Argonne we went up to the 
Somme, when we were a part of the French army that 
relieved the Canadians after their quick advance in the 
early part of August. We went in at Hattencourt and 
advanced past the Somme to the Hindenburg line out¬ 
side of St. Quentin. 
“Leaving the Somme we went to Pierrefonds, a town 
near Gompiegne. Following two or three weeks’ rest we 
again left for the front, going in at La Fere, made an ad¬ 
vance of about thirty kilometers and were relieved three 
days before the fighting ceased. During the last action, 
I received the Croix de Guerre ‘for bravery under intense 
bombardment.’ 
“The papers tell us the States went wild with the news 
of the signing of the armistice and so 1 guess you, too, 
have been having your share of fun. Over here, of 
course, we felt gay but it’s not a marker to what we’ll 
feel when that old boat starts for home. That’s the big 
question now, and every day brings a fresh rumor. I 
guess we will be here three more months anyway, even 
longer. 
“We are now on repose and no one seems to know just 
what we will do or where we will go. Of course, we will 
stay with our French division until they are disorganized, 
but that will take three months. Where we will go in 
the meantime I don’t know, but I think it might be 
Alsace. We are now at a little town called Rantigny, 
halfway between Cleremont and Creil. 
“The last place we were in action was on the River 
Serre near La Fere, and we came out about two or three 
days before the hostilities ceased. From the front we 
went back to a small town near Chaung. There we 
stayed a week or more and finally moved down here. 
“I left the section on permission after we left the lines 
and joned them here a few days back. The permission I 
spent in Aix le Bains and Paris.” 
SUGGESTED SLOGANS FOR THE MARKET 
DEVELOPEMENT MOVEMENT 
COURT AWARDS DAMAGES FOR THE DESTRUCTION 
OF TREES 
Joseph R. Connell, of Haverford, recovered a verdict 
for $7280 in the United States District Court for the dam¬ 
ages done in cutting down giant oak and fruit trees by 
Western Union employes. 
“When the company got through, my place looked like 
devastated Belgium,” declared Mr. Connell during his 
testimony. The telegraph company contended that with 
its right of way for construction of poles and telegraph 
wires it had the right to cut down the trees for public 
benefit and convenience. Mr. Connell denied this and 
brought suit. 
It was testified a white oak tree, fifty feet in height and 
100 years old, was felled by the telegraph employes, and 
that they felled about sixty others, including black heart 
cherry, tulip, poplars, red maples and dogwood and sassa¬ 
fras. 
The plaintiff declared he paid $114,000 for the property, 
but when the defendant got through with its chopping it 
had depreciated $5000 in value. The trees were valued 
at $1500, and the jury’s verdict represented the full 
amount of the claim, with interest .—Philadelphia Public 
Ledger. ' 
SIGMUND TARNOK BUYS FRUITLAND NURSERIES 
P. J. BERCKMANS COMPANY, INC. 
The nursery and landscape interests of the P. J. Berck- 
mans Company, Inc., has been sold to Sigmund Tarnok, 
^vJlO has also purchased the home and farm of R. C. 
Berckmans, lying just across the road from the Fruitland 
Nurseries, by which name the Berckmans place has long 
been known. 
Mr. Tarnok is a native of Switzerland, but has been in 
America about five years and is well versed in this line of 
work in the South. He married a daughter of Mr. J. B. 
Reeves, of Macon, and he has been employed by the Cen¬ 
tral City for the past year as landscape artist. He is a 
graduate of Stuttgart University and of School of Land¬ 
scape Gardening and Architecture at Budapest. 
Mr. Tarnok has also leased the nursery lands of R. C., 
L. A. and P. J. A. Berckmans, Jr., with option to buy. 
The new owner has retained the complete field and office 
force of the concern and it will be conducted as heretofore 
by experienced employees. 
The change of ownership and management of the Fruit¬ 
land Nurseries comes after over half a century of progress 
and success, the concern now being known throughout the 
world. The retiring owners bespeak for Mr. Tarnok the 
highest consideration of the public and they are confident 
he will demonstrate his ability to the satisfaction of the 
old and new patrons of the nurseries. 
The sale does not in any way affect the property of the 
Berckmans Brothers, at Mayfield, where they have one of 
the finest orchards and farms- in the South. In addition to 
devoting their time to this property Messrs. L. A. Berck¬ 
mans and P. J. A. Berckmans, Jr., will do special work as 
consulting horticulturists, and they have already been re¬ 
tained as experts by several of the largest orchard inter¬ 
ests in the South, both being famous as experts in this 
line. 
Let Trees and Shrubs Tell It. 
The Trees and Shrubs Told it to Me. 
Trees and Shrubs Will Do It When Nothing Else Will. 
If the old place looks forsaken. 
And needs some good advice, 
Messrs. Trees and Shrubs will give it 
At the lowest market price. 
Charles E. Broyles. 
Beauty is Wealth. 
Rev. C. S. Harrison. 
