Part 47

21. Beurre Diel. 22. Hacon’s Incomparable. 23. Passe Colmar. 24. Beurre Ranz. 25. Columbia. 26. Beurre D’Aremberg. 27. Van Mons Leon le Clerc. 28. Beurre Easter. 29. Chaumontelle. 30. Glout Morceau. 31. Prince’s St. Germain. 32. Winter Nelis.

Those who wish only four trees, may select Nos. 2, 6, 20, 26. Those who have room for eight, to the above may add 13, 23, 25, 32. Those who wish sixteen trees, to the above may add, 1, 3, 11, 14, 18, 21, 24, 28.

III. PEACHES.

I. EARLY.

1. Red Magdalen. 2. Early Royal George. 3. Early York. 4. Morris’ Red Rareripe. 5. Crawford’s Early Mclocoton.

II. MEDIUM.

6. Apricot Peach. 7. Baltimore Rose. 8. Swalsh. 9. Noblesse. 10. Coolidge’s Favorite. 11. Malta. 12. Brevoort. 13. Douglass. 14. Grosse Mignoune.

III. LATE.

15. Heath. 16. Crawford’s late Melocoton. 17. Lemon Cling. 18. La Grange.

IV. APRICOTS.

1. Large Early. 2. Breda. 3. Peach Apricot. 4. Moorpark.

V. CHERRIES.

1. Bauman’s May or Bigarreau de Mai. 2. Black Eagle. 3. Knight’s Early Black. 4. May Duke. 5. Elton. 6. Bigarreau, or Spanish Yellow 7. Belle de Choisy. 8. Black Tartarian. 9. Downer’s Late. 10. Napoleon.

For a collection of two trees, 4, 9; for four trees, add 6 and 10.

VI. PLUMS.

1. Green Gage. 2. Jefferson. 3. Huling’s Superb. 4. Coe’s Golden Drop. 5. Purple Gage. 6. Cruger’s Scarlet. 7. Washington. 8. Red Gage. 9. Smith’s Orleans. 10. Royal de Tours.

For two trees, 1 and 4; for four add 2 and 7. The following are said to be suitable for light sandy soils, on which plums usually drop their fruit: Cruger’s Scarlet, Imperial Gage, Red Gage, Coe’s Golden Drop, Bleeker’s Gage, Blue Gage.

VII. STRAWBERRIES.

Early Virginia. Hovey’s Seedling. Hudson. Ross Phœnix.

No one man can make out a list that will suit all; and those who are acquainted with fruits will reject some from the above list and insert others. But it may be safely said, that he who has in his collection the above varieties, will have a collection comprising the best that are known, and without one inferior sort, although there may be many others as good; which may be added by such as have room for them.

THE NURSERY BUSINESS.

The great interest in the cultivation of fruit which has been excited within a few years, has given rise to many nurseries to supply the demand, and every year we see the number increasing. Or rather, we see new adventurers in this line, for the failure of many and the abandonment of the business, prevents the number from becoming so great as one would suppose.

We are very glad to see the art of fruit culture increasing, and we are very glad to see competent men embarking in the nursery business. But we are sorry to see the impression gaining ground that it is a business which anybody can conduct, and that every man can make money by it who knows how to graft or to bud. Let no man embark in it under such misapprehension.

In the first place, the time, and labor, and patience required for a successful nursery business is much greater than any one suspects beforehand. If a man has a large capital he may begin sales at once upon a purchased stock. But if one is to prepare his own stock for market, and this must be the case with by far the greater number of western nurserymen, it will require several years of expensive labor before he can realize anything. Nor even then will he be apt to receive profits which will at all meet his expectations. During these years of preparation on what is he to live? If he has means, very well; but let no man suppose that he can get along, especially with a family on his hands, during the early years of his nursery, if he has nothing else to depend upon. The mere physical labor of keeping a nursery in proper order is such as to make it no sinecure.

But all this is a less consideration than the special skill and vigilant care required to conduct a nursery in an honorable manner. Nowhere do mistakes occur more easily, and nowhere are they more provoking, both to the buyer and seller. It is rare that assistants can be had upon whom reliance can be placed. There are men enough to plow, and grub, and clean; but to select buds and grafts, to work the various kinds, and plant them safely by themselves, this, usually, must be done by the proprietor. Where a nursery is carried on by assistants, it makes almost no difference how much care is used, mistakes will abound.

The extent to which an error goes is not unworthy of a moment’s attention. We purchased of a very highly respectable nurseryman, the Royal George peach. The first season many buds were distributed from it. An expert nurseryman in the vicinity, among others, got of it. The credit of the original proprietor of the tree was such that it was thought safe to propagate at once, and thousands of trees were worked with these buds; from him, nurserymen from neighboring counties procured scions, and now the Royal George, which has proved to be no Royal George at all, is scattered all over the country. When a nursery contains from fifty to a hundred kinds of apples, thirty or forty kinds of pears, ten to twenty sorts of cherries, thirty or forty kinds of peaches, besides plums, nectarines, apricots, etc., there will be some two or three hundred separate varieties of fruit to be propagated each year, and of each sort from a hundred to a thousand or more trees, according to the business of the nursery. Two things are apparent from this view; first, that such unremitting and sagacious vigilance is required that not every one is fit to be a nurseryman; and, secondly, that not every nurseryman is a scamp who puts upon you trees untrue to their names. No doubt there are roguish nurserymen; no doubt, too, there are culpably careless men in this, as in all other forms of business. But no one will be so charitable to nurserymen as those who understand the difficulties of their business; and a mistake, and many of them, may occur in well-appointed grounds, which no care could well have prevented.

We think this to be a business to which no man should turn, except under two conditions; first, that he will, if he has not already, serve a faithful apprenticeship to it—we do not mean by regular indenture, but by practising for several years in a good nursery until the prominent essential parts of the business have become practically familiar.

The other condition is, that he make up his mind to see to it himself.