March 8, 1913 



HORT I CULTU RE 



327 



any seed grown by him that did not meet the well-nigh 

 prohibitive conditions it contains. We believe it is not 

 an exaggeration to say that there is no general demand 

 for such a measure, and for men with no knowledge of 

 the subject to undertake to legislate on the seed business, 

 is as ridiculous as for the same men to lay down rules 

 and regulations governing the conduct and methods of 

 astronomers. It seems that eternal vigilance is the price 

 of being able to transact business without interference of 

 ill-considered and ignorant legislation. 



Knowing tlie fact? regarding New 



Unfair to England nursery stock and the extreme 



New England care that has been exercised to keep it 



free from infestation by insect pests, 

 and after reading certain recently published articles 

 emanating from nursery centres that would gain a man- 

 ifest business advantage from any general distrust of 

 New England stock for interstate shipping, we cannot 

 resist the conviction that these articles are not wholly 

 unprejudiced. One, a communication by Barton W. 

 Currie in The Country Gentleman for February 22nd 

 was so clearly unjust in its suggestions and insinuations 

 as to provoke a vigorous protest at the meeting of the New 

 England Nurserymen's Association in Worcester last 

 week, as stated in the account of that meeting on another 

 page of this paper. After reading the article in question 

 one might infer that Massachusetts was the original dis- 

 tributing station for all the pernicious insects that now 

 harass the country. Indeed, we think it was in a previ- 

 ous issue of the same periodical that the assertion was 

 made that the leopard moth made its first appearance in 

 this country at Cambridge, Mass., whereas it is a matter 

 of record that this pest was first found at Hoboken, N. J. 

 New Jersey and Long Island share the honor ( ?) of 

 first entertaining the San Jose scale and our first ac- 

 quaintance with the elm leaf beetle began at Baltimore. 

 Unless we are greatly misinformed, no destructive insect 

 other than the gj'psy and brown-tail moths are charge- 

 able to New England and, even with these, it is known 

 that both of them have been found in New York State 

 on direct shipments from Europe, their discovery and 

 eradication being unquestionably due to the wide pub- 

 licity and warnings given out by Massachusetts author- 

 ities. Massachusetts has fully realized her responsibili- 

 ties and has spent vast sums of money, both public and 

 private, to exterminate these unwelcome visitors on her 

 own territory and to prevent their spread beyond her 

 borders. The result of this well-directed activity is, as 

 was proven at the quarantine hearing in Washington, 

 last fall, that New England nurseries are the cleanest in 

 the country. We feel sure that the publishers of the 

 journal above referred to would not knowingly admit 

 anything to their columns inspired by a malicious pur- 

 pose. Yet the statements as published are eitlier that or 

 they are l)orn of inexcusable ignorance of the facts. 

 Either way, a reputable industry with an investment of 

 millions of dollars has been grievously abused and mis- 

 represented. 



A Menace to the Florist 



The news from Cincinnati to the effect that one of 

 the large Catholic parishes in Southern Ohio has an- 

 nounced that in the future "no funerals to which flowers 

 are permitted to be sent will be permitted in the church" 

 places an issue up to the florists' trade, which, if permit- 

 ted to become generally effective will mean a decided 

 curtailing of one of its principal sources of revenue. 



It is only about a year ago that one of the leading 

 Jewish charities of this country advocated that the 

 money usually spent for flowers at funerals be con- 

 tributed to charity to help the living. This, however, 

 was merely a suggestion and no adverse effects have thus 

 far been felt by the florists resultant therefrom ; but this 

 church order is reported to be mandatory and prohib- 

 itive, and the statement comes from one of the parish 

 managers, that this is the beginning of a nation-wide 

 movement to eliminate flowers from funerals. 



This action should certainly arouse the progressive 

 florists, including those directly and indirectly inter- 

 ested in floriculture in a commercial way, to the abso- 

 lute urgency of a concentrated organization within the 

 florist industry to counteract the adverse influence of 

 such an order. It is not a condition that can be coped 

 ^\ith by local publicity committees, for it would not be 

 a local, but, as stated above, a nation-wide movement if 

 it persisted. 



Local publicity committees under a proper head, such 

 as a national bureau to govern them, could be developed 

 into strong forces for good in their respective communi- 

 ties, but no committee constituted of florists, seedsmen, 

 supplymen. etc., could ever be found sufficiently capable 

 to stem the effects that a church movement as the one 

 referred to. would have on the public. It will rquire a 

 man on the job who has had practical experience and 

 who knows the publicity game from A to Z to instigate a 

 country-wide public sentiment against abolishing the 

 time-honored custom of burying our dead with flowers 

 and thus making any attempt of church or charity to 

 abolish it unpopular. 



There is no necessity for the florist industry to experi- 

 ment as to how it can best obtain this publicity essential 

 to protect its interests and to further develop its busi- 

 ness. There are established policies now employed by 

 much larger industries which have been proven produc- 

 tive of great results. The florist industry can beneflt by 

 these successes, if it will but investigate and adopt these 

 tried and tested methods. The time is most opportune 

 and the publicity most needful. The subject is of such 

 vast importance to the entire florist industry that a 

 special session should be given up to it by the S. A. F. 

 during the week of the International Flower Show with 

 a view of formulating some definite plans for immediate 

 action. 



My interest in this is not inspired by any philan- 

 thropic motive. Tlie market for my products is the flor- 

 ist's trade; an increase in that business means gain to 

 me, and decrease means loss, so that the interest I mani- 

 fest in publicity may even be regarded as mercenary. 

 For the good I expect to derive from it, however, I am 

 quite ready to come across with my share to make up an 

 appropriation to set the wheels in motion at once and no 

 doubt there are many more willing to do likewise if the 

 opportunity is presented to contribute to a plan which 

 will give promise of real achievement. 



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