248 
THE NATIONAL NUESERYMAN 
VARIETIES 
It is not an unconnnon criticism for landscape gar¬ 
deners and planters to make “that nurserymen do not 
carry a full line of stock,” and it is so difficult to get cer¬ 
tain varieties without purchasing from a nmnber of dif¬ 
ferent nurseries. It is one of the most difficult problems 
for the nurserymen to decide just what to grow and 
what to leave alone. 
Eveiy up-to-date concern likes to carry as full a line 
as is profitable, but it is not an easy matter to decide if 
any particular plant or variety is going to he a good 
seller or if he will have to go to the expense of growing 
it, bringing it to a salable condition and ultimately put¬ 
ting it on the brush heap. Few realize so well as the 
nurseryman, the cost of carrying a big list of varieties, 
especially of such things as Roses, Paeonies, Iris, or 
those large families of plants of which there are innum¬ 
erable kinds. 
This is equally true of growers of fruit trees. There 
is an endless variety of Apples, Pears and other fruit, 
and it has to be a large concern, indeed, which can grow 
enough of each variety to supply the demand without 
having too big a surplus left of kinds that do not sell 
well. The average purchaser does not realize what the 
the additional cost of adding one variety to the list means 
to the nurseiyman. In the first place, he has to grow 
sufficient of it to make it worth while listing in his cata¬ 
logue, and it is useless to grow a hundred or more if 
there is only likely to be sale for a dozen. 
Even with the specialist, handling primarily one kind 
of plant, such as Roses, of which there are hundreds of 
varieties, it is not an easy matter to select the kinds 
which will be readily sold, and there are men, however, 
wide their knowledge, who can even guess at the pos¬ 
sible wants of the purchasers or the market. 
There are certain standard kinds of which he knows 
it is safe to grow a good quantity, but when it comes to 
those that are not so well known and the much talked 
about novelties, it is not easy to decide whether he 
should put them in stock or not. It is a recognized fact 
that a quantity of one kind can be grown very much 
cheaper than the same quantity in a great number of va¬ 
rieties. If the nurseryman caters to a retail trade, 
where a great variety of stock is called for, he should 
naturally get much higher prices for those rare or un¬ 
common kinds than for those that are grown in quantity, 
yet in looking down the list of the average catalogue 
they are invariably priced very much alike. 
In studying this subject it is well to consider the 
source which creates a demand. The chief demand in 
America has hitherto been largely developed by the nur¬ 
serymen themselves, in other words, what the nursery¬ 
men decided was a good thing, catalogued, featured and 
advertised, that was the item that the American buying 
public wanted. Now there are other causes at work. 
More interest is being taken in books on gardening. 
Travellers in the old country see gardens and fine collec¬ 
tions of plants, take notes for themselves and of course, 
write to the nurseryman to find out where such and 
such can be procured. 
Landscape gardeners are getting a broader know¬ 
ledge of plants, and are asking for things not generally 
carried by the average nurseiyman, which is the cause 
of some of the criticism that “American nurserymen do 
not cany a full line of stock, and it is impossible to get 
good things that are really well worth growing.” This 
cause or tendency is liable to increase rather than di¬ 
minish, especially with the educational propaganda that 
is now being fathered by the National Association. Of 
course, all propaganda or education emanating from 
nursery interests can largely guide the public demand, 
and Quarantine 37 will largely limit possibilities of 
stock that can be propagated and grown in this country. 
It is a subject, however, that deserves a serious consid¬ 
eration by every nurseryman in the business, as it often 
makes a difference between profit and loss. 
If the nurseryman disposes of all he raises, the 
chances are his business will be profitable, but it is those 
items that are failures and surpluses which he cannot 
sell that seriously affect his balance at the end of the 
year. 
A nurseiyman cannot afford to be too much of a plant 
enthusiast, as he is likely to load up his nursery with a 
great many kinds that he cannot grow profitably. The 
safest plan is to thoroughly study his trade and cater to 
it. When he puts in a new variety, or something he has 
not handled before, grow enough of it to make it worth 
while to specially advertise and not to grow varieties 
and kinds just because someone else does, or because an 
odd customer makes inquiry for it. 
WHICH WAY WILL IT DEVELOP? 
Will the purchaser of nursery stock in the future 
buy his plants from the nursery, and plant them out 
himself, or will he purchase through a planter, or in other 
words, will the retail nurseryman have to develop 
his business along the lines of keeping an organization 
to take care and plant all his orders, or will he be able 
to dispose of the bulk of his stock by merely delivering 
it to the purchaser? , 
While perhaps there will always be customers who 
will purchase and do their own planting, the tendency 
does seem to be developing along the lines where the 
nurseryman does the planting either himself or through 
jobbing gardeners. 
This is especially true of localities near large cities , 
where perhaps the bulk of the stock of the retail nur¬ 
seryman is sold. Of course, on a large country estate 
things will doubtless always go on as they are. Stock 
wull be purchased either through the landscape archi¬ 
tect who is laying out the place, or through the superin¬ 
tendent or gardener in charge. Then there will be the 
isolated country residence where the owner himself is 
interested in gardening, but in the great majority of 
places in suburbs of large cities, the tendency seems to 
be for the nurseryman or seller to do the planting, and 
the nurseryman who is prepared to plant is more likely 
to book the order than the one who merely delivers it, 
leaving the planting to someone else. 
It is a subject worth serious thought from the nur¬ 
seryman who wishes to look a little ahead to see the 
lines upon which his business may be most profitably de¬ 
veloped. 
