THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
13 
ruin of our industry that has rendered, for so many years, 
considerable service to the American nurserymen and al¬ 
lowed them to beautify their generous country. 
Please excuse this long letter that you may publish or 
any part of it, if you find it interesting to do so. 
Yours very sincerely, 
Barbier & Co. 
RAFFIA 
E. E. Pescott, F. L. S., writing in the Australian Inter¬ 
national Nurseryman on the source of raflia used by nur¬ 
serymen for tying purposes says—The palm Rapliis 
Raffia from which the raflia is procured are really mag- 
nilicent and gigantic. The leaves, not unlike those of the 
Phoenix species, are usually sixty feet in length and 
thirty to forty feet in width, so that it is truly a regal 
palm. 
In their native tropical habitat, Madagascar, 
where the palms grow in great profusion, they become 
economically useful from their seventh year. The palms 
grow for twenty years or thereabouts, then they flower 
and seed, and shortly after die. 
The textile fibrous material, known as raflia, is taken 
from the central shoot, being cut with a strong sharp 
instrument. 
The sheath surrounding and protecting the young 
growing leaves, and i)ortions of the leaves themselves, 
are the source of the raflia. These, after being cut oft*, 
are rapidly divided by hand, are dried, and then worked 
up into plaits for export. 
It is generally known that raflia has become of great 
value at the “front,” being used extensively for camou¬ 
flage purposes. The ease with which it may be worked, 
fastened or woven, the relative lightness of the material, 
causing it to wave and move readily in the wind, the 
quickness with which it takes dye, and many other at¬ 
tributes all give an importance and value to raflia for 
camouflage and secretive purposes. Thus a road or gun 
position may be quickly hidden from balloon or aero¬ 
plane observers by huge streamers constructed with 
multi-colored raflia, and so protection is given to such 
positions. The army authorities of America, Britain and 
France have so recognized its value that they have re¬ 
quisitioned large supplies from all sources. 
The one possible impracticable feature in regard to 
raflia production in Australia, is that the palms must be 
from five to seven years old before they become commer¬ 
cially productive. But even so, the palms might be in¬ 
troduced into Australia or to some of the Pacific Islands 
with a view to testing their commercial value, 
MARKET DEVELOPMENT 
During the war, the many dilliculties with which every 
nurseryman had to contend in the way of labor and 
transportation and the public’s absorption in other things 
than nursery stock made it impossible to proceed with 
market development work. That it would have been 
better to launch the campaign months ago, is obvious. It 
was not, however, so much a question of what ought to 
be done, as what could be done. 
Like many other enterprizes it had to wait until the 
war was won before real action could be taken. 
Now the war is ended the Executive Committee lost no 
time in getting into action. 
The sub-committee consisting of Mr. John Watson and 
Mr. Robert Pyle was appointed to find a man to handle 
the work of the organization. 
After considering several men all of whom had excep- 
tonal qualifications they finally decided upon Mr. F. F. 
Rockwell. 
He has been engaged to handle the, work under a ten¬ 
tative arrangement approved by the Executive Commit¬ 
tee and subject, of course, to the action of the subscribers 
themselves. 
Mr. Rockwell is well known in the horticultural 
world. He is the author of seven or eight books on gar¬ 
dening subjects and those connected with our trade; he 
has been a regular contributor to farm and garden pa¬ 
pers, was circulation manager of the Garden Magazine; 
upon his own initiative he established demonstration 
vegetable gardens in half a dozen cities, and during the 
past year was manager of the 750 acre seed farm of W. 
Atlee Burpee Co., Doylestown, Pa. 
Mr. Rockwell is to give half his time, the rest being 
given to the work of the Farm Bureau where he has his 
oflice in the Sun Building at 150 Nassau Street, New 
York. 
He is right on the job, his first step will be to send a 
report and statement to all the subscribers with an out¬ 
line of what he proposes to do. 
As the advertising men say, now is the psychological 
time, with the end of the war and in the manner of its 
ending, there has come over all our people a new spirit 
and a determination to resume as quickly as possible our 
normal pursuits. 
Nurserymen share that feeling and it will be gratify¬ 
ing to all to know that at last a start has been made in 
an attempt to put the nursery business where it belongs, 
among the leading industries of the country. 
WANTED A SLOGAN 
Now the Market Development movement is under way, 
a good catchy slogan must be adopted. 
In a spirit of banter we suggested “Do it by Planting” 
as a travesty on the one adopted by the florists, “Say it 
with Flowers.” 
We invite suggestions from the readers of the National 
Nurseryman. 
A slogan that will fit the situation and have the punch. 
