The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1926-01-08

New York. Jan. S.---Seventeen years
ago Evelyn Smith was left heritage
of few acres Of land, no experience,
and love for trees.
Building on this unfirm fOunda-
tion, Evelyn Smith now is active head
of "big tree" nursery, the largest
Of it's kind in the world. with nearly
600 acres of land, and million
trees.
She has sent big trees to every
civilized country in the world, and to
nearly every city in the United
States. Landscape gardeners, city
park experts and builders Of estates
consult her, and accept her word as
law. Every week dozens of men and
women, prominent in their fields, Wis.,
it the old Colonial home ut Amawalk,
40 miles north of New York City.
The reason for her success is in
jnst two phrases, Miss Smith be-
lieves, "hard work" and ''big trees"
| Her father. Major A. j. Smith.
founder of the American Press ass0-
ciatien., loved trees and made them
Creates 4 Market.
Soon after his death Miss Smith
found hersclf and her mother with
little money, and one or two small
farms as q legacy. Her father never
had sold tree during his lifetime.
except when he disposed of land
which contained trees he had planted.
She conceived the idea that there
must be . market for really fine
knowing nothing Of trees. she
started to study them. Every book
available was devoured and she re-
me mbered what she read. She stud
| led the mechanics of tree growth.
| BY doing the work herself. she at
last became familiar with every OPP
Grafton In the care and handling of
trees. She even spent hours in the
city parks, pruning. brscing and
mulchiuR tho trees there.
she finally decided her field was
in selling maturcd trees.-Small trees
had the odds against them from the
start. Their roots were not large
renough, nor fine enough. to obtain
food from strange soil and enable
them to- overcome the shock OF re-
planting;
Sells Only Big Trees.
lit s9thc Sstyle to build your house
with y sag in the roof. so as to give
the appearance Of age. Two-inch
trees around the house are dead
giye-aWay. Austrian pines or naples
seven inches through, might easily
have stood there for generations"
Therefore. the Amawalk Nurseries
will not sell q tree unless it is ma
ture and has developed the proper
root system to stand planting. In ad-
j ditiOn. q service department cares for
the trees until they are definitely
established in their new homes.
Hundreds Of trees are burned each
year. on direct orders from Miss
Smith. No tree which Is faulty in
growth. or which shows any sign OF
infection, is allowed to take. space on
the huge farm.
Her little organization has grown
"At first" she said,~"I was presi-
dent and general manager. When q
tree, was to be sold. I was salesman
and when the tree was moved, l did
the moving
Has Many Employees.
Now there are from $50 to. It's men
on the farm. Departments are al
most as complex as those. of any big
businexs< concern. Department heads
are directly responsible to Miss
Smith.
Huge trucks move the trees. which
sometimes weigh as much as 20 tons.
Improved machinery assists in dig
ging and loading. But every opera
tion is -superintended by Evelyn
Smith, and every man on the place
will admit that she could do his job
las well as he can.