Produced by Ted Garvin, Sankar Viswanathan, and Distributed
Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net
[Illustration: MR. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER AT THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN]
Random Reminiscences
of Men and Events
BY
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER
New York
Doubleday, Page & Company
1909
COPYRIGHT, 1908, 1909, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
PREFACE
Probably in the life of everyone there comes a time when he is
inclined to go over again the events, great and small, which have made
up the incidents of his work and pleasure, and I am tempted to become
a garrulous old man, and tell some stories of men and things which
have happened in an active life.
In some measure I have been associated with the most interesting
people our country has produced, especially in business--men who have
helped largely to build up the commerce of the United States, and who
have made known its products all over the world. These incidents which
come to my mind to speak of seemed vitally important to me when they
happened, and they still stand out distinctly in my memory.
Just how far any one is justified in keeping what he regards as his
own private affairs from the public, or in defending himself from
attacks, is a mooted point. If one talks about one's experiences,
there is a natural temptation to charge one with traveling the easy
road to egotism; if one keeps silence, the inference of wrong-doing
is sometimes even more difficult to meet, as it would then be said
that there is no valid defence to be offered.
It has not been my custom to press my affairs forward into public
gaze; but I have come to see that if my family and friends want some
record of things which might shed light on matters that have been
somewhat discussed, it is right that I should yield to their advice,
and in this informal way go over again some of the events which have
made life interesting to me.
There is still another reason for speaking now: If a tenth of the
things that have been said are true, then these dozens of able and
faithful men who have been associated with me, many of whom have
passed away, must have been guilty of grave faults. For myself, I had
decided to say nothing, hoping that after my death the truth would
gradually come to the surface and posterity would do strict justice;
but while I live and can testify to certain things, it seems fair that
I should refer to some points which I hope will help to set forth
several much-discussed happenings in a new light. I am convinced that
they have not been fully understood.
All these things affect the memories of men who are dead and the lives
of men who are living, and it is only reasonable that the public
should have some first-hand facts to draw from in making up its final
estimate.
When these Reminiscences were begun, there was of course no thought
that they should ever go so far as to appear between the covers of a
book. They were not prepared with the idea of even an informal
autobiography, there was little idea of order or sequence, and no
thought whatever of completeness.
It would have been a pleasure as well as a satisfaction to dwell with
some fulness upon the stories of daily and intimate companionship
which existed for so many years with my close partners and associates,
but I realize that while these experiences have always been to me
among the great pleasures of my life, a long account of them would not
interest the reader, and thus it happens that I have but mentioned the
names of only a few of the scores of partners who have been so active
in building up the business interests with which I have been
associated.
J.D.R.
_March_,1909.
CONTENTS
I. Some Old Friends
II. The Difficult Art of Getting
III. The Standard Oil Company
IV. Some Experiences in the Oil Business
V. Other Business Experiences and
Business Principles
VI. The Difficult Art of Giving
VII. The Benevolent Trust--The Value
of the Cooperative Principle in
Giving
CHAPTER I
SOME OLD FRIENDS
Since these Reminiscences are really what they profess to be, random
and informal, I hope I may be pardoned for setting down so many small
things.
In looking back over my life, the impressions which come most vividly
to my mind are mental pictures of my old associates. In speaking of
these friends in this chapter, I would not have it thought that many
others, of whom I have not spoken, were less important to me, and I
shall hope to refer to this subject of my early friends in a later
chapter.
It is not always possible to remember just how one first met an old
friend or what one's impressions were, but I shall never forget my
first meeting with Mr. John D. Archbold, who is now a vice-president
of the Standard Oil Company.
At that time, say thirty-five or forty years ago, I was travelling
about the country visiting the point where something was happening,
talking with the producers, the refiners, the agents, and actually
getting acquainted.
One day there was a gathering of the men somewhere near the oil
regions, and when I came to the hotel, which was full of oil men, I
saw this name writ large on the register:
_John D. Archbold, $4.00 a bbl._
He was a young and enthusiastic fellow, so full of his subject that he
added his slogan, "$4.00 a bbl.," after his signature on the register,
that no one might misunderstand his convictions. The battle cry of
$4.00 a barrel was all the more striking because crude oil was selling
then for much less, and this campaign for a higher price certainly did
attract attention--it was much top good to be true. But if Mr.
Archbold had to admit in the end that crude oil is not worth "$4,00 a
bbl.," his enthusiasm, his energy, and his splendid power over men
have lasted.
He has always had a well-developed sense of humour, and on one serious
occasion, when he was on the witness stand, he was asked by the
opposing lawyer:
"Mr. Archbold, are you a director of this company?"
"I am."
"What is your occupation in this company?"
He promptly answered, "To clamour for dividends," which led the
learned counsel to start afresh on another line.
I can never cease to wonder at his capacity for hard work. I do not
often see him now, for he has great affairs on his hands, while I live
like a farmer away from active happenings in business, playing golf,
planting trees; and yet I am so busy that no day is long enough.
Speaking of Mr. Archbold leads me to say again that I have received
much more credit than I deserve in connection with the Standard Oil
Company. It was my good fortune to help to bring together the
efficient men who are the controlling forces of the organization and
to work hand in hand with them for many years, but it is they who have
done the hard tasks.
The great majority of my associations were made so many years ago,
that I have reached the age when hardly a month goes by (sometimes I
think hardly a week) that I am not called upon to send some message of
consolation to a family with whom we have been connected, and who have
met with some fresh bereavement. Only recently I counted up the names
of the early associates who have passed away. Before I had finished,
I found the list numbered some sixty or more. They were faithful and
earnest friends; we had worked together through many difficulties, and
had gone through many severe trials together. We had discussed and
argued and hammered away at questions until we came to agree, and it
has always been a happiness to me to feel that we had been frank and
aboveboard with each other. Without this, business associates cannot
get the best out of their work.
It is not always the easiest of tasks to induce strong, forceful men
to agree. It has always been our policy to hear patiently and discuss
frankly until the last shred of evidence is on the table, before
trying to reach a conclusion and to decide finally upon a course of
action. In working with so many partners, the conservative ones are
apt to be in the majority, and this is no doubt a desirable thing when
the mere momentum of a large concern is certain to carry it forward.
The men who have been very successful are correspondingly
conservative, since they have much to lose in case of disaster. But
fortunately there are also the aggressive and more daring ones, and
they are usually the youngest in the company, perhaps few in number,
but impetuous and convincing. They want to accomplish things and to
move quickly, and they don't mind any amount of work or
responsibility. I remember in particular an experience when the
conservative influence met the progressive--shall I say?--or the
daring side. At all events, this was the side I represented in this
case.
ARGUMENTS VERSUS CAPITAL
One of my partners, who had successfully built up a large and
prosperous business, was resisting with all his force a plan that some
of us favoured, to make some large improvements. The cost of extending
the operations of this enterprise was estimated at quite a sum--three
million dollars, I think it was. We had talked it over and over again,
and with several other associates discussed all the pros and cons; and
we had used every argument we could command to show why the plan would
not only be profitable, but was indeed necessary to maintain the lead
we had. Our old partner was obdurate, he had made up his mind not to
yield, and I can see him standing up in his vigorous protest, with his
hands in his pockets, his head thrown back, as he shouted "No."
It's a pity to get a man into a place in an argument where he is
defending a position instead of considering the evidence. His calm
judgment is apt to leave him, and his mind is for the time being
closed, and only obstinacy remains. Now these improvements had to be
made--as I said before, it was essential. Yet we could not quarrel
with our old partner, but a minority of us had made up our minds that
we must try to get him to yield, and we resolved to try another line
of argument, and said to him:
"You say that we do not need to spend this money?"
"No," he replied, "it will probably prove to be many years before such
a sum must be spent. There is no present need for these facilities you
want to create, and the works are doing well as they are--let's let
well enough alone."
Now our partner was a very wise and experienced man, older and more
familiar with the subject than some of us, and all this we admitted to
him; but we had made up our minds, as I have said, to carry out this
idea if we could possibly get his approval, and we were willing to
wait until then. As soon as the argument had calmed down, and when the
heat of our discussion had passed, the subject was brought up again. I
had thought of a new way to approach it. I said:
"I'll take it, and supply this capital myself. If the expenditure
turns out to be profitable the company can repay me; and, if it goes
wrong, I'll stand the loss."
That was the argument that touched him. All his reserve disappeared
and the matter was settled when he said:
"If that's the way you feel about it, we'll go it together. I guess I
can take the risk if you can."
It is always, I presume, a question in every business just how fast it
is wise to go, and we went pretty rapidly in those days, building and
expanding in all directions. We were being confronted with fresh
emergencies constantly. A new oil field would be discovered, tanks for
storage had to be built almost over night, and this was going on when
old fields were being exhausted, so we were therefore often under the
double strain of losing the facilities in one place where we were
fully equipped, and having to build up a plant for storing and
transporting in a new field where we were totally unprepared. These
are some of the things which make the whole oil trade a perilous one,
but we had with us a group of courageous men who recognized the great
principle that a business cannot be a great success that does not
fully and efficiently accept and take advantage of its opportunities.
How often we discussed those trying questions! Some of us wanted to
jump at once into big expenditures, and others to keep to more
moderate ones. It was usually a compromise, but one at a time we took
these matters up and settled them, never going as fast as the most
progressive ones wished, nor quite so carefully as the conservatives
desired, but always made the vote unanimous in the end.
THE JOY OF ACHIEVEMENT
The part played by one of my earliest partners, Mr. H.M. Flagler, was
always an inspiration to me. He invariably wanted to go ahead and
accomplish great projects of all kinds, he was always on the active
side of every question, and to his wonderful energy is due much of the
rapid progress of the company in the early days.
It was to be expected of such a man that he should fulfil his destiny
by working out some great problems at a time when most men want to
retire to a comfortable life of ease. This would not appeal to my old
friend. He undertook, single handed, the task of building up the East
Coast of Florida. He was not satisfied to plan a railroad from St.
Augustine to Key West--a distance of more than six hundred miles,
which would have been regarded as an undertaking large enough for
almost any one man--but in addition he has built a chain of superb
hotels to induce tourists to go to this newly developed country.
Further than this, he has had them conducted with great skill and
success.
This one man, by his own energy and capital, has opened up a vast
stretch of country, so that the old inhabitants and the new settlers
may have a market for their products. He has given work to thousands
of these people; and, to crown all, he has undertaken and nearly
completed a remarkable engineering feat in carrying his road on the
Florida Keys into the Atlantic Ocean to Key West, the point set out
for years ago.
Practically all this has been done after what most men would have
considered a full business life, and a man of any other nationality
situated as he was would have retired to enjoy the fruits of his
labour.
I first knew Mr. Flagler as a young man who consigned produce to Clark
& Rockefeller. He was a bright and active young fellow full of vim and
push. About the time we went into the oil business Mr. Flagler
established himself as a commission merchant in the same building
with Mr. Clark, who took over and succeeded the firm of Clark &
Rockefeller. A little later he bought out Mr. Clark and combined his
trade with his own.
Naturally, I came to see more of him. The business relations which began
with the handling of produce he consigned to our old firm grew into a
business friendship, because people who lived in a comparatively small
place, as Cleveland was then, were thrown together much more often than
in such a place as New York. When the oil business was developing and we
needed more help, I at once thought of Mr. Flagler as a possible
partner, and made him an offer to come with us and give up his
commission business. This offer he accepted, and so began that life-long
friendship which has never had a moment's interruption. It was a
friendship founded on business, which Mr. Flagler used to say was a good
deal better than a business founded on friendship, and my experience
leads me to agree with him.
For years and years this early partner and I worked shoulder to shoulder;
our desks were in the same room. We both lived on Euclid Avenue, a few
rods apart. We met and walked to the office together, walked home to
luncheon, back again after luncheon, and home again at night. On these
walks, when we were away from the office interruptions, we did our
thinking, talking, and planning together. Mr. Flagler drew practically all
our contracts. He has always had the faculty of being able to clearly
express the intent and purpose of a contract so well and accurately that
there could be no misunderstanding, and his contracts were fair to both
sides. I can remember his saying often that when you go into an
arrangement you must measure up the rights and proprieties of both sides
with the same yardstick, and this was the way Henry M. Flagler did.
One contract Mr. Flagler was called upon to accept which to my
surprise he at once passed with his O.K. and without a question. We
had concluded to purchase the land on which one of our refineries was
built and which was held on a lease from John Irwin, whom we both knew
well. Mr. Irwin drew the contract for the purchase of this land on the
back of a large manila envelope that he picked up in the office. The
description of the property ran as such contracts usually do until it
came to the phrase "the line runs south to a mullen stalk," etc. This
seemed to me a trifle indefinite, but Mr. Flagler said:
"It's all right, John. I'll accept that contract, and when the deed
comes in, you will see that the mullen stalk will be replaced by a
proper stake and the whole document will be accurate and shipshape."
Of course it turned out exactly as he said it would. I am almost
tempted to say that some lawyers might sit at his feet and learn
things about drawing contracts good for them to know, but perhaps our
legal friends might think I was partial, so I won't press the point.
Another thing about Mr. Flagler for which I think he deserves great
credit was that in the early days he insisted that, when a refinery
was to be put up, it should be different from the flimsy shacks which
it was then the custom to build. Everyone was so afraid that the oil
would disappear and that the money expended in buildings would be a
loss that the meanest and cheapest buildings were erected for use as
refineries. This was the sort of thing Mr. Flagler objected to. While
he had to admit that it was possible the oil supply might fail and
that the risks of the trade were great, he always believed that if we
went into the oil business at all, we should do the work as well as we
knew how; that we should have the very best facilities; that
everything should be solid and substantial; and that nothing should be
left undone to produce the finest results. And he followed his
convictions of building as though the trade was going to last, and his
courage in acting up to his beliefs laid strong foundations for later
years.
There are a number of people still alive who will recall the bright,
straightforward young Flagler of those days with satisfaction. At the
time when we bought certain refineries at Cleveland he was very
active. One day he met an old friend on the street, a German baker, to
whom he had sold flour in years gone by. His friend told him that he
had gone out of the bakery business and had built a little refinery.
This surprised Mr. Flagler, and he didn't like the idea of his friend
investing his little fortune in a small plant which he felt sure would
not succeed. But at first there seemed nothing to do about it. He had
it on his mind for some days. It evidently troubled him. Finally he
came to me and said:
"That little baker man knows more about baking than oil refining, but
I'd feel better if we invited him to join us--I've got him on my
conscience."
I of course agreed. He talked to his friend, who said he would gladly
sell if we would send an appraiser to value his plant, which we did,
and then there arose an unexpected difficulty. The price at which the
plant was to be purchased was satisfactory, but the ex-baker insisted
that Mr. Flagler should advise him whether he should take his pay in
cash or Standard Oil certificates at par. He told Mr. Flagler that if
he took it in cash it would pay all his debts, and he would be glad to
have his mind free of many anxieties; but if Mr. Flagler said the
certificates were going to pay good dividends, he wanted to get into
and keep up with a good thing. It was rather a hard proposition to put
up to Mr. Flagler, and at first he declined to advise or express any
opinion, but the German stuck to him and wouldn't let him shirk a
responsibility which in no way belonged to him. Finally Mr. Flagler
suggested that he take half the amount in cash and pay 50 per cent. on
account of his debts, and put the other half in certificates, and see
what happened. This he did, and as time went on he bought more
certificates, and Mr. Flagler never had to apologize for the advice he
gave him. I am confident that my old partner gave this affair as much
time and thought as he did to any of his own large problems, and the
incident may be taken as a measure of the man.
THE VALUE OF FRIENDSHIPS
But these old men's tales can hardly be interesting to the present
generation, though perhaps they will not be useless if even tiresome
stories make young people realize how, above all other possessions, is
the value of a friend in every department of life without any
exception whatsoever.
How many different kinds of friends there are! They should all be held
close at any cost; for, although some are better than others, perhaps,
a friend of whatever kind is important; and this one learns as one
grows older. There is the kind that when you need help has a good
reason just at the moment, of course, why it is impossible to extend
it.
"I can't indorse your note," he says, "because I have an agreement
with my partners not to."
"I'd like to oblige you, but I can explain why at the moment," etc.,
etc.
I do not mean to criticize this sort of friendship; for sometimes it
is a matter of temperament; and sometimes the real necessities are
such that the friend cannot do as he would like to do. As I look back
over my friends, I can remember only a few of this kind and a good
many of the more capable sort. One especial friend I had. His name was
S.V. Harkness, and from the first of our acquaintance he seemed to
have every confidence in me.
One day our oil warehouses and refinery burned to the ground in a few
hours--they were absolutely annihilated. Though they were insured for
many hundred thousands of dollars, of course, we were apprehensive
about collecting such a large amount of insurance, and feared it might
take some time to arrange. That plant had to be rebuilt right away,
and it was necessary to lay the financial plans. Mr. Harkness was
interested with us in the business, and I said to him:
"I may want to call upon you for the use of some money. I don't know
that we shall need it, but I thought I'd speak to you in advance about
it."
He took in the situation without much explaining on my part. He simply
heard what I had to say and he was a man of very few words.
"All right, J.D., I'll give you all I've got." This was all he said,
but I went home that night relieved of anxiety. As it turned out, we
received the check of the Liverpool, London & Globe Insurance Company
for the full amount before the builders required the payments; and
while we didn't need his money, I never shall forget the whole-souled
way in which he offered it.
And this sort of experience was not, I am grateful to say, rare with
me. I was always a great borrower in my early days; the business was
active and growing fast, and the banks seemed very willing to loan me
the money. About this time, when our great fire had brought up some
new conditions, I was studying the situation to see what our cash
requirements would be. We were accustomed to prepare for financial
emergencies long before we needed the funds.
Another incident occurred at this time which showed again the kind of
real friends we had in those days, but I did not hear the full story
of it until long years after the event.
There was one bank where we had done a great deal of business, and a
friend of mine, Mr. Stillman Witt, who was a rich man, was one of the
directors. At a meeting, the question came up as to what the bank
would do in case we wanted more money. In order that no one might
doubt his own position on the subject, Mr. Witt called for his
strong-box, and said:
"Here, gentlemen, these young men are all O.K., and if they want to
borrow more money I want to see this bank advance it without
hesitation, and if you want more security, here it is; take what you
want."
We were then shipping a large quantity of oil by lake and canal, to
save in transportation, and it took additional capital to carry these
shipments; and we required to borrow a large amount of money. We had
already made extensive loans from another bank, whose president
informed me that his board of directors had been making inquiries
respecting our large line of discounts, and had stated that they would
probably want to talk with me on the subject. I answered that I would
be very glad of the opportunity to meet the board, as we would require
a great deal more money from the bank. Suffice it to say, we got all
we wanted, but I was not asked to call for any further explanations.
But I fear I am telling too much about banks and money and business. I
know of nothing more despicable and pathetic than a man who devotes
all the waking hours of the day to making money for money's sake. If I
were forty years younger, I should like to go into business again, for
the association with interesting and quick-minded men was always a
great pleasure. But I have no dearth of interests to fill my days,
and so long as I live I expect to go on and develop the plans which
have been my inspiration for a lifetime.
During all the long period of work, which lasted from the time I was
sixteen years old until I retired from active business when I was
fifty-five, I must admit that I managed to get a good many vacations
of one kind or another, because of the willingness of my most
efficient associates to assume the burdens of the business which they
were so eminently qualified to conduct.
Of detail work I feel I have done my full share. As I began my
business life as a bookkeeper, I learned to have great respect for
figures and facts, no matter how small they were. When there was a
matter of accounting to be done in connection with any plan with which
I was associated in the earlier years, I usually found that I was
selected to undertake it. I had a passion for detail which afterward I
was forced to strive to modify.
At Pocantico Hills, New York, where I have spent portions of my time
for many years in an old house where the fine views invite the soul
and where we can live simply and quietly, I have spent many delightful
hours, studying the beautiful views, the trees, and fine landscape
effects of that very interesting section of the Hudson River, and this
happened in the days when I seemed to need every minute for the
absorbing demands of business. So I fear after I got well started, I
was not what might be called a diligent business man.
This phrase, "diligent in business," reminds me of an old friend of
mine in Cleveland who was devoted to his work. I talked to him, and no
doubt bored him unspeakably, on my special hobby, which has always
been what some people call landscape gardening, but which with me is
the art of laying out roads and paths and work of that kind. This
friend of thirty-five years ago plainly disapproved of a man in
business wasting his time on what he looked upon as mere foolishness.
One superb spring day I suggested to him that he should spend the
afternoon with me (a most unusual and reckless suggestion for a
business man to make in those days) and see some beautiful paths
through the woods on my place which I had been planning and had about
completed. I went so far as to tell him that I would give him a real
treat.
"I cannot do it, John," he said, "I have an important matter of
business on hand this afternoon."
"That may all be," I urged, "but it will give you no such pleasure as
you'll get when you see those paths--the big tree on each side and
----"
"Go on, John, with your talk about trees and paths. I tell you I've
got an ore ship coming in and our mills are waiting for her." He
rubbed his hands with satisfaction--"I'd not miss seeing her come in
for all the wood paths in Christendom." He was then getting $120 to
$130 a ton for Bessemer steel rails, and if his mill stopped a minute
waiting for ore, he felt that he was missing his life's chance.
Perhaps it was this same man who often gazed out into the lake with
every nerve stretched to try to see an ore ship approaching. One day
one of his friends asked him if he could see the boat.
"No-o, no-o," he reluctantly admitted, "but she's most in sight."
This ore trade was of great and absorbing interest at Cleveland. My
old employer was paid $4 a ton for carrying ore from the Marquette
regions fifty years ago, and to think of the wickedness of this maker
of woodland paths, who in later years was moving the ore in great
ships for eighty cents a ton and making a fortune at it.
All this reminds me of my experiences in the ore business, but I shall
come to that later. I want to say something about landscape gardening,
to which I have devoted a great deal of time for more than thirty
years.
THE PLEASURES OF ROAD PLANNING
Like my old friend, others may be surprised at my claim to be an
amateur landscape architect in a small way, and my family have been
known to employ a great landscape man to make quite sure that I did
not ruin the place. The problem was, just where to put the new home at
Pocantico Hills, which has recently been built. I thought I had the
advantage of knowing every foot of the land, all the old big trees
were personal friends of mine, and with the views of any given point I
was perfectly familiar--I had studied them hundreds of times; and
after this great landscape architect had laid out his plans and had
driven his lines of stakes, I asked if I might see what I could do
with the job.
In a few days I had worked out a plan so devised that the roads caught
just the best views at just the angles where in driving up the hill
you came upon impressive outlooks, and at the ending was the final
burst of river, hill, cloud, and great sweep of country to crown the
whole; and here I fixed my stakes to show where I suggested that the
roads should run, and finally the exact place where the house should
be.
"Look it all over," I said, "and decide which plan is best." It was a
proud moment when this real authority accepted my suggestions as
bringing out the most favoured spots for views and agreed upon the
site of the house. How many miles of roads I have laid out in my time,
I can hardly compute, but I have often kept at it until I was
exhausted. While surveying roads, I have run the lines until darkness
made it impossible to see the little stakes and flags. It is all very
vain of me to tell of these landscape enterprises, but perhaps they
will offset the business talks which occupy so much of my story.
My methods of attending to business matters differed from those of
most well-conducted merchants of my time and allowed me more freedom.
Even after the chief affairs of the Standard Oil Company were moved to
New York, I spent most of my summers at our home in Cleveland, and I
do still. I would come to New York when my presence seemed necessary,
but for the most part I kept in touch with the business through our
own telegraph wires, and was left free to attend to many things which
interested me--among others, the making of paths, the planting of
trees, and the setting out of little forests of seedlings.
Of all the profitable things which develop quickly under the hand, I
have thought my young nurseries show the greatest yield. We keep a set
of account books for each place, and I was amazed not long ago at the
increase in value that a few years make in growing things, when we
came to remove some young trees from Westchester County to Lakewood,
New Jersey. We plant our young trees, especially evergreens, by the
thousand--I think we have put in as many as ten thousand at once, and
let them develop, to be used later in some of our planting schemes. If
we transfer young trees from Pocantico to our home in Lakewood, we
charge one place and credit the other for these trees at the market
rate. We are our own best customers, and we make a small fortune out
of ourselves by selling to our New Jersey place at $1.50 or $2.00
each, trees which originally cost us only five or ten cents at
Pocantico.
In nursery stock, as in other things, the advantage of doing things on
a large scale reveals itself. The pleasure and satisfaction of saving
and moving large trees--trees, say, from ten to twenty inches in
diameter, or even more in some cases--has been for years a source of
great interest. We build our movers ourselves, and work with our own
men, and it is truly surprising what liberties you can take with
trees, if you once learn how to handle these monsters. We have moved
trees ninety feet high, and many seventy or eighty feet. And they
naturally are by no means young. At one time or another we have tried
almost all kinds of trees, including some which the authorities said
could not be moved with success. Perhaps the most daring experiments
were with horse-chestnuts. We took up large trees, transported them
considerable distances, some of them after they were actually in
flower, all at a cost of twenty dollars per tree, and lost very few.
We were so successful that we became rather reckless, trying
experiments out of season, but when we worked on plans we had already
tried, our results were remarkably satisfactory.
Taking our experiences in many hundreds of trees of various kinds in
and out of season, and including the time when we were learning the
art, our total loss has been something less than 10 per cent.,
probably more nearly 6 or 7 per cent. A whole tree-moving campaign in
a single season has been accomplished with a loss of about 3 per cent.
I am willing to admit that in the case of the larger trees the growth
has been retarded perhaps two years, but this is a small matter, for
people no longer young wish to get the effects they desire at once,
and the modern tree-mover does it. We have grouped and arranged clumps
of big spruces to fit the purposes we were aiming for, and sometimes
have completely covered a hillside with them. Oaks we have not been
successful with except when comparatively young, and we don't try to
move oaks and hickories when they have come near to maturity; but we
have made some successful experiments with bass wood, and one of these
we have moved three times without injury. Birches have generally
baffled us, but evergreens, except cedars, have been almost invariably
successfully handled.
This planning for good views must have been an early passion with me.
I remember when I was hardly more than a boy I wanted to cut away a
big tree which I thought interfered with the view from the windows of
the dining-room of our home. I was for cutting it down, but some
other members of the family objected, though my dear mother, I think,
sympathized with me, as she said one day: "You know, my son, we have
breakfast at eight o'clock, and I think if the tree were felled some
time before we sat down to table, there would probably be no great
complaint when the family saw the view which the fallen tree
revealed."
So it turned out.