February 10, 1917 



HORTICULTUEE 



175 



any person to import or offer for entry 

 Into the United States any nursery stock. 

 PROVIDED, That tbe Secretary of Agri- 

 culture may Import, grow and propagate 

 nursery stock in small quantities for ex- 

 perimental and scientitic purposes, upon 

 sucli conditions and under sucli regulations 

 as he may advise. 



Section 2. That for tlie purpose of this 

 Act the term "nursery stock" shall include 

 all field-grown florists' stock, trees, shrubs, 

 vines, cuttings, grafts, scions, buds, bed- 

 ding plants, all herbaceous plants, bulbs, 

 roots, and other plants and i»laut products 

 for propagation, except fieltl. vegetable, 

 tiowers and tree seeds. 



This bill, if passed, will shut out 

 practically everything the florists now 

 import, Azalea indica, bay trees and 

 araucarias, valley pips for forcing or 

 any other purpose, Jap lily bulbs, 

 French bulbs, Dutch bulbs, Manettl 

 stocks used for greenhouse grafting of 

 roses, orchids and nursery stock of 

 every kind. It would not only shut out 

 Dracaena plants, but the canes which 

 are necessary to produce them. It 

 would shut out Kentia plants — also 

 the seeds necessary to grow our own 

 plants. "What for?" you ask; the 

 answer is "To save our forests." If 

 any member of the S. A. F. thinks it 

 necessary to stop the importation of 

 valley pips. Manetti stocks, or Jap 

 lily bulbs to protect our forests, 1 

 would like to hear him. 



Arrangements were made in the 

 Conference Committee so that the 

 measure would not be Introduced In 

 Congress until committees from the 

 National Associations of Florists and 

 Nurserymen had an opportunity of 

 conferring with a special committee of 

 the American Forestry Association ap- 

 pointed for that purpose. This arrange- 

 ment shows the right spirit, and 

 while the special committee consists 

 mostly of State Inspectors we hope 

 to be able to show them that while 

 their plan, if put into operation, would 

 put back the florist business many 

 years, it would not go far in protecting 

 our forests or farm crops or reduce 

 the diseases which afflict them to any 

 appreciable degree. 



The measures that have threatened 

 our interests for several years have 

 now reached a crisis. We will need 

 on our committee men of ability who 

 are willing to subordinate their per- 

 sonal interests to the welfare of the 

 trade — men who understand why stock 

 is imported, why at least the raw ma- 

 terials are necessary to our welfare — 

 men who know something about in- 

 sect pests and plant diseases and who 

 can adequately express their views. 



Since our policy will likely have to 

 be defined before our annual conven- 

 tion in August (The Nurserymen's 

 Convention being held in June), I will 

 seek the advice of the executive com- 

 mittee of the S. A. F. on the subject, 

 but as the matter is such a vital one to 

 many of our members, 1 deem it wise 

 to inform the general trade through 

 the medium of your columns and trust 

 you will give this report the publicity 

 you consider it deserves. 



Wm. F. Gude. 

 Chairman. Legislative Committee, of 

 the S. A. F. and O. H. 



Editor HoRTicri.TriiE: 



Referring to the resolutions passed 

 at the recent meeting of State Forest- 

 ers and Inspectors in Washington. D. 

 ' C, and the view held by various Fed- 

 eral Government officials I think the 

 stand taken by these gentlemen in 



this matter to be altogether too 

 drastic. 



If a disease breaks out among our 

 people we try to stamp this out by 

 means of prevention of its spread and 

 by cure, not by prohibiting immigra- 

 tion, unless the disease is prevalent 

 in local parts of a certain country 

 and entry is forbidden from that par- 

 ticular locality until the disease has 

 been controlled. This is the way we 

 have been treating the plant disease 

 question, and with good results; why 

 should we have to depart from this, 

 now that the Government has the 

 power to restrict and forbid the im- 

 portation of most any plant known to 

 be infested? 



The absolute quarantine will work 

 a terrible hardship on the growers 

 from other countries and be disas- 

 trous to several business enterprises 

 in this country. If it could be con- 

 clusively shown that it would prevent 

 the spread of pests and diseases, it 

 might have to be established, but no 

 one can prove this to be an absolute 

 certainty because there are so many 

 other carrying agencies besides plants 

 that we should have to build a Chinese 

 wall around the U. S. A. with mos- 

 quito netting over the top of it. 



Several countries have established 

 organizations to combat these evils 

 and notably Holland has been doing 

 pioneer work of this kind. For. the 

 past twenty years there has been es- 

 tablished in that country a phytopatho- 

 logical service equalled by that of no 

 other country in its efficiency. It is 

 well known that even the most rigid 

 inspectors in these States have to ad- 

 mit that all nursery stock coming from 

 Holland is practically tree from pest 

 or disease and so effective have been 

 the measures instituted that France 

 and Belgium shortly before the war 

 sent several of their inspectors to see 

 how it was done. 



Professor Ritzema Boss has been at 

 the head of that Government Bureau 

 ever since its establishment. With a 

 competent staff of assistants, appoint- 

 ed by the Government after careful 

 examination, stationed at the different 

 growing centres, men who make it 

 their life work, they absolutely con- 

 trol the situation with wonderful ef- 

 fectiveness. Not only is every nursery 

 inspected during the summer but all 

 plants are again looked over before 

 being packed at the time they are 

 ready to be placed in the boxes and 

 not until they are found to be ab- 

 solutely clean is a permit issued al- 

 lowing the owner to pack and ship. 



All infested stock is rejected and 

 ordered destroyed at once and this is 

 done. The large nurseries all have 

 their own disinfecting material and 

 appliances to work with, with com- 

 petent workmen. The small growers 

 are assisted by an organization estab- 

 lished by the Pomological Society of 

 Boskoop. supplying the disinfection 

 service at a nominal cost per acre and 

 no grower can afford to go without it. 

 so low is the cost and effective the 

 work. Again in every season bulletins 

 are issued warning growers of the ap- 

 proaching breeding seasons and tell- 

 ing how to exterminate the evils. 



It can readily be seen that such a 



complete service makes it practically 



impossible for any pest or disease to 



come from Holland to other States. 



The proposed restrictions would 



simply result in a material loss to our 

 nurserymen as well as to the con- 

 sumer. 



C. J. W. Ottolandeb. 

 Sprlnglield, A'. J. 



PLANTS CERTIFICATED AT BOS- 

 TON. 



Editor Horticiltuke: 



1 notice in the January 27th issue of 

 The Florists' Exchange an editorial 

 under the caption of "Plants Certifl- 

 cated at Boston," and I am wondering 

 why the writer should single out only 

 the plants which were certificated and 

 say nothing whatever about those 

 which received honorable mention and 

 medals. 



While 1 have not all the data in re- 

 gard to these awards at hand, 1 think 

 it safe to say if the whole list were 

 published a very different impression 

 would be given. 



Since the early days of the Massa- 

 chusetts Horticultural Society the 

 recognition new and improved varie- 

 ties of plants, fruits and vegetables by 

 special awards has been an important 

 part of its activities and it is justly 

 proud of the work done along these 

 lines. Its records go back for many 

 years and about all the introductions 

 of worth can be found therein. 



The awards are made by standing 

 committees appointed each year. These 

 committees are composed of men who 

 have the reputation of the Society at 

 heart and who look well to the quality 

 of an exhibit before placing an award 

 upon it. feeling that only the best and 

 most distinct should bear the stamp of 

 approval of the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society. 



The writer of the article referred to 

 enumerates nine novelties which re- 

 ceived certificates and makes the 

 statement that "Surely there is some- 

 thing wrong somewhere." "What is 

 it?" This remark seems to me to be 

 a little ambiguous, but I take it that 

 he thinks there is something wrong 

 with the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society as he professes to be aston- 

 ished by the small number of novelties 

 awarded certificates. I can hardly be- 

 lieve that he would have us award a 

 certificate to every novelty that is 

 shown, good, bad or indifferent, for 

 it we did they would not be worth the 

 paper thev were printed on. If there 

 is "something wrong somewhere he 

 must look elsewhere for the cause and 

 there is a bare possibility that it might 

 be found in the actual number of nov- 

 elties presented and in the quality of 

 them. In the matter of new carna- 

 tions, honorable mention is the high- 

 est award made to a variety shown 

 tor the first time. It must prove its 

 value before it can hope to get a cer- 

 tificate or higher award, and m this 

 connection the committee take cogniz- 

 ance of any action taken by the Amer- 

 ican Carnation Society in regard to 

 the variety in question, believing that 

 in making such awards to plants or 

 flowers which have become of such 

 importance that special societies have 

 been formed to care tor their inter- 

 ests, the wise plan is to co-operate 

 and corroborate rather than act w-ith- 

 out information, which means much to 

 future growers. 



Newton Highlands. Mass. 



