In 1947 that irreverant sage George Bernard Shaw made this observation:
To expect an average farmer to be not only a sower and a reaper, but an agricultural chemist, an accountant, a
meteorologist, a veterinary expert, a merchant, a financier and a resident housekeeper all united in a single Admirable
Crichton is ridiculous; yet this is our practice.
If one substitutes "horticultural chemist" for "agricultural chemist", extends the list to allow for the complications brought by time's passage and substitutes "plant physiologist and pathologist" for "veterinary expert", the description fits the modern nurseryman. Perhaps he even has to be a bit of a plant psychiatrist. He is the central figure here - the person whose livelihood is commercial plant husbandry.
Houweling Nurseries Ltd. v. Fisons Western Corp. |
1986 CarswellBC 1340 |
British Columbia Supreme Court