THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 365 



a question of doubt on the nurserymen, for tliey are the only ones who 

 are going to make an effort to introduce new fruits and plants, and 

 propagate them for sale. It is not necessary for me to dwell very much 

 on this subject, for you to understand that the business must bring 

 adequate returns or it can uot exist. 



It is not going to be my purpose to discuss radical changes in our 

 laws to correct existing evils, in this paper, but rather the application 

 of these laws. This is not an admission that our laws as now admin- 

 istered are satisfactory to the nurserymen of this State, because they 

 are not, and although I am decidedly in favor of having them under 

 state control and so far as it is possible to do so, to have them uniform, 

 this in itself will not correct conditions entirely, for there wnll always 

 be more or less conflict. 



There is no one who will not concede that a nursery business requires 

 the closest application and the most intelligent effort to succeed: then 

 why should it not be accorded the same treatment on the part of our 

 horticultural commissioners as any other branch of the fruit business? 

 The aim of our commissioners seems to be directed solely at the nursery- 

 men, and they are forced to believe that they are the ' ' goats ' ' for every 

 new law and ordinance that is enacted. 



It costs money to raise trees, and this in connection with the fact that 

 trees must be grown and started several years in advance of their sale, 

 the nurserymen being compelled to anticipate what the call will be for, 

 increases the cost of his trees to a still greater degree on account of 

 those which must be burned because, as it often happens, they are not 

 in demand. A nurseryman for his own good wants to keep his stock 

 clean and free of pests, and there is no reason for holding up and con- 

 demning his stock because an insect or disease may be found on a few 

 of his trees than there would be for holding up a shipment of fruit for 

 the same cause. Counties are drawing lines of demarcation prohibiting 

 the shipment of certain classes of nursery stock between them, without 

 inspection; still there is just as much chance and even more so, in 

 carrying pests on the fruits which pass through on the railroad trains 

 between these counties and no effort is made toward inspecting this 

 fruit, and even if an occasional pest was found on it, it would not be 

 condemned for shipment. 



The nurserymen of California are expected to furnish trees true to 

 name, and in order to supply such stock it is necessary to cut their buds 

 from bearing trees, and preferably such trees in an orchard which 

 produce an abundance of fruit of the very best quality. How many of 

 such orchards are there which do not have pests? Even after fumi- 

 gating and washing the bud sticks, a pest may get established in a 

 nursery in spite of all the precautions that may be exercised to prevent 

 it. Is it right or just that the entire nursery should be condemned for 

 this reason? 



The nurserymen are constantly moving their nurseries to new 

 localities, trying as far as possible to get as far away from orchard 



