for October, 1920 



353 



President Jensen next announced that the meeting would ad- 

 journ and tlie members proceed to the Missouri Botanical 

 Garden where they would be guests at the annual Shaw Banquet. 



THURSDAY MORNING SESSION 

 Election of Officers 



As there were no opposing candidates for the offices for 1921, 

 a motion was made that the secretary cast the ballot for their 

 election. President Jensen then made the announcement that 

 the following officers were elected to serve during the year 1921 : 

 President, W. N. Craig, Brookline, Mass. ; vice-president, George 

 H. Pring, St. Louis, Mo. ; secretary, M. C. Ebel, New York, N. Y. ; 

 treasurer, Peter Duff, Orange, N. J. 



Trustees for 1921 : William Waite, Arthur Smith. D. L. 

 Mackintosh, New Jersey : L. P. Jensen. Ernst Strehle, Missouri. 



J. Horace McFarland on Quarantine 37. 



I presume I cannot add to your information about Quarantine 

 Bill No. 37, and I certainly do not want to add to your distress 

 by talking too long on the subject of how Quarantine is to be 

 handled. A great deal of discussion has been had over the meet- 

 ing called in New York in June, which included mostly the men 

 and woinen who had suffered by the drastic application of Quar- 

 antine 37 in the consumption of plants, rather than in the sale. It 

 was called by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the Horti- 

 cultural Society of New York and the Pennsylvania Horticultural 

 Society : the presidents of which organizations called together the 

 representatives from over thirty or forty of the National or- 

 ganizations and local organizations, and a very reinarkable fact 

 was that the principle of tlie Quarantine was approved; i.e., the 

 necessity for the Quarantine against additional bugs, etc., was 

 fully recognized , and all of the discussion was in the direction of 

 securing modification of the quarantine, so that while the Nation 

 may be completely protected against the introduction of new plant 

 diseases, insects, etc., there might yet be that world exchange in 

 the horticultural business which has made gardening in America 

 so great. It was pointed out, for example, that if all the plant 

 life now in this country had been restricted to plants of America 

 originally, there would not be any peonies, and there would not 

 be a number of other beautiful flowers we look at today in some 

 of the wonderful gardens in this country. 



I am sure from personal knowledge that there is no disposition 

 in the minds of the members of the Horticultural Board to so 

 work this quarantine as to exclude definitely the forwarding of 

 plants from abroad. This body is made up of alile men for whom 

 I have profound respect ; like most men who are devoted to one 

 thing, the thing they are devoted to is the. biggest thing in the 

 world to them. A pathologist dealing in horticulture or flori- 

 culture with plant insects and diseases does not see the plant. As 

 I say, I like the members of this Horticultural Bnard, but I am 



going to tell what 1 know to be a fact ; I believe if you had them 

 here and took them to the Missouri Botanical Garden, put them 

 in the midst of that wonderful exhibit, none of them would 

 know anything aliout the propagation of those wonderful plants. 

 Can we put the life of the plant in the hands of idealists in the 

 Federal Horticultural Board? 



Now very great harm has been done by calling these men names. 

 In one particular instance, the abuse of the Federal Horticultural 

 Board has hurt the whole situation almost beyond relief. I 

 know Dr. Marlatt and every member personally, and have abso- 

 lute confidence in every one of them; it doesn't help the situation 

 to call them names, and inasmuch as they are becoming more in- 

 terested in the situation, tliey are worthy of the confidence of 

 the N. A. G. They are excellent men of good ideals, and we 

 must recognize, gentlemen, that they are net all alike, any more 

 than we are all alike. 



Our committee wants to get evidence to present to the Federal 

 Horticultural Board to bring about a modification of the provi- 

 sions of Quarantine 37. The committee was instructed to get 

 evidence, it was not told to get hot air ; you cannot take hot air 

 into court and get anything with it. It is really a case in court, 

 that is, a case supported by evidence that we are trying to make. 

 I am very glad to have this opportunity of asking you to send 

 Mr. Ebel any specific evidence you have of the operation of 

 Quarantine 37 which has definitely worked damage to plants, trees, 

 vines, slirubs, etc. It is evidence we want of the hardship en- 

 dured rather than opinions. Inferences do not get us anything. 

 Specific statements will be of the utmost value. I have the 

 hope that you with your wide reach will unearth testiinony for us. 

 The purpose I have in mind has been accepted by the Horticul- 

 tural Board, and Dr. Marlatt has promised a meeting of that 

 Board and has promised that whatever we can show will be con- 

 sidered, and our suggestions taken into favorable account without 

 prejudice, i. e., he has agreed that if we can show hardship and 

 wrong that he will ask a remedy for the hardship and wrong. 



It has occurred to me that one of the worst things that has 

 I'.appened in connection with Quarantine is the practical prohibi- 

 tion of importation by great botanical gardens. It would be folly 

 to tell those interested what has been done by the Missouri 

 Botanical Garden, the .\rnoId Arboretum. Brooklyn Botanical Gar- 

 den, New York Botanical Garden, etc., for the promotion of plant 

 life. You all know what they have done. You do not want 

 them stopped doing their work in these directions. While they 

 understand that theoretically they can import, practically they 

 cannot, and importations in consequence have practically ceased. 

 Prof. Sargent, of the Arnold Arliorctum, told me personally that 

 the wonderful work of that institution has bee'i handicapped in 

 so far as investigating plants outside of America has been con- 

 cerned. E. H. Wilson is now in Australia, and he will undoubt- 

 edly soon have ready for sending into the United States a great 

 collection of plants, some of which will be very useful. It is 



Panorama viczu of the Worhfs Fair Grounds, .diozi'in:.; the city in the dudancc. taken from the hill side of Forest Park, St. Louis, 

 ■where the members of the National Association of Gardeners attending the con-'ention. zvere entertained at a barbecue by the 



St. Louis I'ark Defarlment .-Issociation 



