
These men are at work in the greenhouse making grafts, a process which requires the 
services of a large force of men during the winter months. 
S MOST of our customers see only 
the finished product, they perhaps 
do not realize the great amount of 
care which is required to produce Ever- 
green trees. 
The average age of small Evergreens 
two to four feet runs about ten years. 
The trees are propagated by various 
means and carried through several stages 
of transplanting before they are suffi- 
ciently developed in size and form for 
customers to use in landscaping. 
The Hill Nursery specializes in Ever- 
green trees and is the largest nursery de- 
voted exclusively to this specialty, com- 
prising at the present time about 600 
acres adjoining the Village of Dundee, 
Illinois, forty miles northwest of Chicago. 
This nursery was established in 1855, hav- 
ing been owned and operated over several 
generations by the Hill family. 
Our principal business is supplying small 

Some varieties can be grown from cuttings, which are 
rooted in shallow boxes and later transplanted, and 
then moved outdoors into beds. 







The seed is sown in the open ground, covered with sand 
and also covered for the first year with lath racks. 

a 
In the background of this picture are the hot beds where 
propagation of certain varieties is done during the late 
summer months. After being rooted these cuttings are 
carried into the greenhouses during the winter. 
4 
After the process of grafting has been completed, the little 
trees are kept in benches in the greenhouse covered with 
sash to maintain certain conditions of temperature and 

In the Hill Nursery there are 30 separate greenhouses 
devoted exclusively to the propagation of Evergreen 
cuttings and grafts in choice horticultural varieties. 

The first period of transplanting cuttings and seedlings. 
Trees remain in these beds for two years 
before being moved into field rows. 

join 
i 
moisture. 
Behind the Scenes in the Nursery Business 
Propagation Department 
Evergreens to other nurserymen for grow- 
ing on, also the supplying of salable sizes 
to nurserymen, landscape gardeners and 
other dealers in nursery products. 
There are three methods by which Hill 
Evergreens are propagated: From seeds, 
from cuttings and from grafts. 
The seeds are gathered from Europe, 
Asia and North America. Large quanti- 
ties normally are received from China and 
Japan. Seeds are grown in beds outdoors 
where they produce seedlings, ready for 
transplanting at the end of two or three 
years. 
Cuttings and grafts are propagated in 
greenhouses, after which they are in turn 
transplanted outdoors and carried through 
the various processes of transplanting and 
root pruning until such time as they are 
ready for sale. Several illustrations on 
this page give a brief story of this inter- 
esting and highly technical business. 


An Evergreen graft 
ready for planting. 
About 10 inches 
tall. 
