February 9, 1907 



HORTICUl^TURi: 



161 



vides that all packages of seed shall be bramlcil with 

 the names and proiDortions of everything contained 

 therein, also the name of the state or country in which 

 it was raised and prescribes a severe penalty for false 

 lalielling. An attempt is made to define the distinction 

 between "mixed" and "advdterated" seeds and seed deal- 

 ers found ^rith adulterated stocks in their possession are 

 iirotected against punishment if they can show a war- 

 ranty as to the purity of the seed, signed by the whole- 

 saler from whom same was purchased. The Seci-etary 

 of Agriculture is given full jurisdiction and all exam- 

 inations and tests shall be under the supervision of the 

 Bureau (if Plant Industry. On request of the Secretary 

 (if Agriculture the Secretary of tl)o Treasury shall sup- 

 ply samples' of seeds as imported and may refuse entry 

 to any found not up to standar(:l. All seed condemned 

 under the provisions of the act shall be destroyed or 

 sold and the proceeds turned into the U. S. treasury; in 

 other words, confiscated. The seed trade will do well to 

 watch closely the progress of this bill. Legislation of 

 this sort is popular at the present time and this effort 

 is undoubtedly well-meant but, unless well scrutinized 

 and carefully drawn, under the counsel of those thor- 

 oughly acquainted with the business which it seeks to 

 regulate may reach far beyond its ostensible purpose 

 and inflict injury never contemplated by its advocates. 

 Fairness demands that its purpose be explicit and its 

 pro\asions plainly adapted thereto — something which, 

 as it a|ipoars to us on a first perusal, is not apparent in 

 the bill in its present form. Tt has often been asserted 

 that the fanners and others are influenced by cheapness 

 rather than quality in purchasing and are unwilling to 

 ]3ay the price for first-grade agricultural seeds. We 

 doubt very much if this is true. It should be remem- 

 bered that the greater part of the grass and clover seeds 

 reaches the consumer, not through the medium of the 

 seedsman but of the country grocer who does not under- 

 stand the seed business and cannot realize to the extent 

 that the intelligent farmer can. the importance of hav- 

 ing clean seed even at a little higher figure than the 

 price of an impure mixture. As to the farmer who is 

 deficient in this respect his perceptions might be effectu- 

 ally brightened up by the addition of a clause providing 

 for seed inspection in the field as well as in the bins as 

 pertinently suggested by Mr. O'Mara at the Senate com- 

 mittee hearing on the free seed appropriation last year. 



A Plea for Fences 



Let Horticulture Work for You 



If you have anything to sell to florists, gardeners, 

 park superintendents, seedsmen, let this paper sell it 

 for you. It reaches thousands of good buyers once a 

 week and the cost is oul\' a trifle. Tell your story in 

 Hokticulture's advertising columns, for it will get into 

 good company and the best people in the profession will 

 surely see it and read it. 



:\lr. Editor:— This is rather a bold heading after the 

 two alile letters from Mr. Cameron and Mr. Finlayson 

 which have recently appeared in your increasingly val- 

 uable periodical. 1 by no means wish to detract from 

 the gardener's responsibilities and duties connected 

 therewith ; of course, these to the head gardener extend 

 over the whole horticultural establishment, and if he 

 sees any improvement which can be effected to the land- 

 scape which the landscape gardener has overlooked, he 

 will do well to point it out to his employer and with his 

 approval make the cliange. A clever plantsman, florist 

 or pomologist is not a full-fledged gardener, it is true, 

 but their articles if they can show practice to bear out 

 their theories, are always useful and acceptable reading. 

 There are two sides to every (|uestion but each is capable 

 of certain modifications. 



I quite agree with bdth your correspondents that 

 fences are lurking places for insect embryos and fun- 

 gous spores, but I do not see that this is of all the con- 

 sequence that is attributed to it, provided the fences 

 are of the right sorts and are kept clipped neatly twice 

 a year and the borders they occupy perfectly free from 

 weeds. To the total exclusion of fences under all cir- 

 cumstances I take objection. As to uniformity I must 

 admit that in city suburbs it is pleasing, but I have 

 not quite gotten over the idea that every man's house 

 is his castle; not that it is any longer necessary to 

 defend it with moat and fortrfess, but a boundary line 

 of some well-grown and well-kept fence of a dwarf grow- 

 ing shrub which will stand the winter's cold gives an 

 idea of individual ownership and makes a man feel his 

 independence, and says tacitly to a disagreeable neighbor 

 (and we cannot all be agreeable yet) "So far shalt thou 

 come and no farther." For an outside fence nothing 

 can beat the Japanese privet. If kept bushy by semi- 

 annual clipping and grown about four feet high and 

 two and a half feet through, it will be a good defence 

 against any stray cattle and impervious to smaller ani- 

 mals ; besides which it makes the estate look as if some 

 one owned it as well as the town. 



Utniformity is good in the immediate suburbs of 

 cities, but when we get away into the hamlet and vil- 

 lage, diversity of buildings, gardens, and fences, always 

 supposing all are well taken care of, constitute their 

 chief charm. 



Let us not repudiate the use of fences by wholesale, 

 and in our efforts to do away with objectionable ones 

 strip our lawns and gardens of every semblance of fence 

 until our villas and cottages are dotted about a common, 

 with here and there a shrub or flower bed to rescue the 

 monotony of the scene. I suppose our go-ahead friends 

 in the profession will think me antiquated but if they 

 made a tour of the counties of Old England where the 

 sweetbrier exhales its fragrance to the breeze, the haw- 

 thorn- and holly shine with their berries of scarlet and 

 the wild honeysuckle and clematis add their beauties to 

 the delights I may bo excused for my old-fashioned 

 ideas. 



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