1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



343 



good knowledge of ferns, and he tells me the one 

 in question is Ptcris arguta, not tremula. I can- 

 not say it is really wild here, as I can only find it 



on a large bed of rocks near by, and how it came 

 here I cannot yet ascertain. But what I am pre- 

 pared to say is that it is hardy here." 



Literature. Travels and Personal Notes 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



PROHIBITION OF AMERICAN TREES IN 

 EUROPE. 



BY EXPORTER, N. Y. 



By one of the last foreign mails our German co;- 

 respondent sends us clippings from German papers, 

 which we forwarded at once to the State Depart- 

 ment m Washmgton, givmg the " Berne Conven- 

 tion " (July 4, 1883) Phylloxera law; according to 

 which England, France, Austria, Hungary, Ger- 

 many, Belgium and Switzerland, agree not to pass 

 any plants over their border, but either destroy 

 them or return them, even if accompanied by a 

 sworn certificate that no vines have been grown 

 within thirty yards from the shipment ; as long as 

 such shipment comes from any country outside of 

 their convention. In other words, they establish 

 a black list, and the United States, of course, are 

 at the head of it. 



Now this is a crying evil, for the oath of one 

 man is as good as that of a conventionalist, and 

 our Government should look after this ostracising 

 of plants, and influence these silly laws to be ap- 

 plied in a more moderate form, securing the con- 

 ventionalists that protection from the plague, they 

 are looking for. But here we have sold this spring, 

 goods to the different countries in the plant line, 

 for fall delivery, and we do not know how to reach 

 our customers. 



To you, as an organ in the trade, we direct these 

 grievances, trusting that the press may find a way 

 out of this dilemma and arouse the officials to ac- 

 tion. Or is this to be a second "pork exclusion?"' 

 Trichin£e, phylloxera, what next? A beastly coun- 

 try ours must be in the eyes of foreigners, if we 

 stand idle. Join the convention ? We hardly can, 

 unless we wish to draw a wall around us. But to 

 insist that the oath of an American before a foreign 

 Consul is just as valid as that of any German, 

 Englishman or Frenchman, and claims the same 



belief, is in our opinion, the duty of our State De 

 partment to enforce with those conventionalists. 



Since the 12th of July, this law is in force abroad, 

 and we had the grandest trouble to convince Ger- 

 man Custom House authorities, that Dutch bulbs 

 were no plants — but meant to become plants 

 (when, as a compliment, a few bulbs were sent 

 from Holland to a friend in Germany). Then we 

 succeeded in getting them passed, but to-day we 

 are informed, the law is applied also to bulbs. 

 Poor tuberose I 



[While we are suffering from cabbage worms, 

 pea weevils, codling moths and what not, imported 

 from the old world, it is strange that the old folks 

 should kick up like this — and so absurdly too. 

 The phylloxera is already in Europe, in myriad 

 millions, and far more likely to spread by inter- 

 course among each other, than by anything they 

 may get from us. And England too, a party to 

 this farce! A country which has phylloxera in 

 almost every grape border — which raises "hot- 

 house vines " in almost every nursery — and which 

 hopes, of course, to do a good deal of " shopping " 

 with her associates. America could live and pros- 

 per without any of these countries, and might very 

 well afford to shut out all importations of every 

 description from abroad. It could afford to retali- 

 ate by just such a regulation. But she has the 

 good sense to know that she cannot get any good 

 at all without the risk of some attendant evil, and 

 is perfectly willing to take the evil with the good, 

 and trust to human knowledge and human pro- 

 gress to improve the good and conquer the bad. 



The following letter explains itself : 



Dep't. of State, Washington, 



October 15, 1883. 

 "Prof. Thoii'iis MccJian, Editor Gardeners' Mon- 

 thly : 

 "Sir — -Your letter of the 5th inst., relative to the 

 prohibition of tlie importation of plants into the 

 States participant in the Berne Convention of July 

 4, 1883, has been received. In reply, I have to in- 



