*^ EDITORIAL te< 



A lively controversy is going on between the American 

 nurserymen and the individuals who comprise the Federal 

 Horticultural Board in regard to Plant Quarantine 37 which 

 proposes to exclude from this country after June 1st, prac- 

 tically everything that the florists, gardeners, nurserymen and 

 plant breeders consider essential to their welfare. Tlie 

 reason given for such quarantine is that there are a number of 

 pests on the other side of the world which might edge into 

 this country were the bars not put up. If it were possil)le for 

 such proceedings to do all they advertise, we might be more 

 inclined to favor them, but if the plant pathologists of the 

 Federal Horticultural Board cannot keep such pests out of 

 carefully inspected and fumigated nursery stock, we have 

 serious doubts that they will be able to prevent their entrance 

 in materials used in packing, in ships ballast, clinging to the 

 coats of garden and flower seeds, clinging to the coats of 

 animals, or secreted here and there about the innumerable 

 articles which we import from foreign lands. The horticul- 

 turists of the Government have not been al)lc to prevent the 

 spread of the boll weevil, the Russian thistle, the melon wilt, 

 the chestnut disease, the white pine blister and hosts of others 

 and having apparently lost confidence in their efforts, propose 

 this exclusion as a last resort. As to the workings of the 

 (|uarantine. Secretary Houston of the U. S. Department says, 

 "It is also recognized that some of the plants and plant pro- 

 ducts whose importation has made them more or less popular 

 will become rarities until they can be produced in this country, 



