74 American Horticultural Society. 



He then read the foUowinp correspondence as more fully settinj; forth his 

 views on this treaty, and also on the eflects of phylloxera in graperies in this 

 country, with a view of showing how easily wrong conclusions may be 

 arrived at: 



"in reference to the treaty of uerne, and the prohibition of the 

 introduction of bulbs and cuttings from the united states into 



GERMANY. 



" Bureau of Entomoi/xjy, 

 " Washington, February, 9, 18S4. 



" Sir: T beg to submit the following report on the communication of lion. 

 A. A. Sargent, Minister to Berlin, to the Honorable the Secretiiry of State, 

 which you have referred to me : 



" Certain American exporters of grapevines (Messrs. Boelker & Sons, of 

 New York), have complained to the Department of State concerning the ex- 

 clusion of American plants from Germany, and Mr. Sargent reports upon 

 the state of the Uerman laws in reference to such importations. 



" It seems that Germany, by the imperial decree of July 4, 18S3, prohibits 

 absolutely the importation of grapevines, cuttings and roots. The importa- 

 tion of grapes and husks and of all other plants is allowed only to nations which 

 took part in the Berne Congress of 1S81, and then only under certain re- 

 strictions as to packing, certificates from official experts, etc. Thus Germany 

 has gone a step beyond the provisions of the Berne Congress, and the strin- 

 gency of the decree has caused great excitement and indignation among 

 nurserymen in this country. 



" While no one can appreciate the necessity for stringent measures against 

 the introduction of the phylloxera into non-infested countries more than I 

 do, yet certain of the provisions of this last decree appear to me utterly use- 

 less, and, without doul)t. they cause much lo.ss and annoyance to nurserymen 

 in this and other countries as well as to those of Germany, without produc- 

 ing any corresponding benefit. 



"The clause in the decree prohibiting the importation of all 'nurslings, 

 shrubs, and other garden jiroducts not bcl(^nging to the category of the 

 grapevine, coming from nurseries and hot luiuses in the Empire,' is based 

 upon the possibility of the winged females settling upon such plants and de- 

 positing the few eggs which give birth to the true males and females which 

 produce the winter egg. I will repeat here, therefore, the conclusion which 

 I have repeatedly urged in discussing restrictive legislation in reference to 

 the phylloxera, and which the habits and life-history of the insect justify. 



"The eggs from tlic winged females are most often laid in or on the 

 ground near the base of the vine, and they are so delicate as to require 

 especially favorable conditions of temperature and moisture to enable them 

 to hatch. They must, in my judgment, infallibly perish when deposited on 

 anything else than the lower surface of the living grape leaf where they can 

 receive moisture by endosmosis, or in crevices in earth that is kept moder- 

 ately moist by rain or dew. But even supposing that these eggs could hatch, 



