May 29, 1915 



HOETICULTUEE 



719 



NURSERY INTERESTS MENACED. 



A letter from Fred K. Kelsey calls 

 our attention to the proposed increase 

 in freight rates and the pine rust quar- 

 antine by the Department of Agricul- 

 ture as questions that should have 

 earnest consideration and prompt ac- 

 tion by the Nurserymen's Association 

 when they meet at Detroit. It would 

 seem that the plan of increasing the 

 present heavy freight rates on nursery 

 stock in car lots of something like 25 

 or 30 per cent, by the simple process 

 of changing the classification, is one of 

 the customary methods of insidiously 

 increasing transportation charges un- 

 der some specious plea of getting 

 more money for the same service and, 

 where there is such an important in- 

 crease as that indicated, with the hope 

 of securing the increased revenue 

 without formidable protest or objec- 

 tion from interested shippers. 



We believe it is openly admitted 

 that for the average value of car con- 

 tents of nursery stock proportionate to 

 the weight, the present carload rates 

 are in reality higher than the relative 

 freight charges on almost any other 

 kind of crude or finished material car- 

 ried by the railroads. This fact makes 

 the burden of any increase from the 

 present high rates seem unbearable, 

 especially as the 5 per cent, increase 

 in the new trunk line rates, as per- 

 mitted by the Interstate Commerce 

 Commission, applies to nursery and 

 florists' stock as to other shipments; 

 and with this increase it is doubtful 

 if the transportation managers them- 

 selves can claim any justification for 

 this new increase in the expense for 

 moving nursery stock. 



In order to meet this situation ef- 

 fectively and aggressively Mr. Kelsey 

 suggests that a committee of able rep- 

 resentative men, possibly a special 

 committee, be appointed at the June 

 meeting of the association to take up 

 this subject at headquarters, first with 

 the presidents of some of the roads 

 most interested and then with other 

 officials in order that the proposed in- 

 creased rates to be effective from June 

 1st be rescinded. 



Any nurseryman or shipper of nur- 

 sery stock has merely to look at his 

 freight bills to have demonstrated 

 how the material increase or cost of 

 transportation the proposed change in 

 rates will result. 



Concerning the quarantine of all 

 pines, Mr. Kelsey says: 



"There have appeared in the horti- 

 cultural papers some apparent differ- 

 ences between the understanding of 

 some of the members of the Fed- 

 eral Horticultural Board and my 

 own understanding of the posi- 

 tion of that board on this pine 

 quarantine subject at the hearing 

 or conference held in Washinjitou.. 

 February 2nd, as to whether there 

 would be ani|)le opportunity for a 

 fuller hearing before definite action 

 would be taken by the Board. This 

 was and is clearly my conviction as 

 to what occurred at the hearing on 



Pol- Grown Vines for Late Planting 



Actinidia Argiita strung 5 iiitli pots 



Ampelopsis \'eitchii " 4 



" Tricolor 



" Kngelnianii 



'* Lowii (New) 



.\ristolochiai Sipho 



Bignonia Grandiflora 



Radicans 



Clematis Montana Grandiflora... 



•* " Rubens 



•* Duchess of Edinburgh. 



" Henryi 



Mme. Baron Veillard.. 



Ville de Lyon 



Integrifolia Durandi... 



Hop \' ines 



Honeyomkle HaUeana 



" Evergreen 



" Variegated 



" Red Coral 



Hardy English Ivies 



Hardv .Jasmine Nudiflorum 



" ' " Officinale 



Ijithyrus White Pearl 



Polygonum Multiflorum 



Kudzu Vines 



Scliizophragiua Hydrangeoides. . 



Wistaria Sinensis Blue 



White 



" Multijuga 



Vitis HumuUfolia 



5 



5 



5 



i 



6 



6 



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6 



4 



5 



4 



4 



4 



S 



7 

 i«6 



£6 

 1&7 



4 



HENRY A. DREER, Inc., 



The above prices are Intended for the trade only. 



this point and I was therefore greatly 

 surprised at the reference which ap- 

 peared later from Chairman Marlatt in 

 eonnection with the adoption of the 

 quarantine recommendation by the 

 Board on the 5th of February, only 

 three days after the hearing referred 

 to. 



"1 have no doubt that Chairman 

 Marlatt and his colleagues wished to 

 be fair in their interpretation of what 

 occurred, and as it was furtherest from 

 my thought to refer to that under- 

 standing in any other way excepting 

 as developed at the hearing, as pub- 

 licly stated by me at the time, I have 

 been quite unable to account for the 

 apparent difference in statement in 

 this regard. And if that meeting was 

 fully reported I believe the records 

 will fully bear out this understanding 

 and the impression which I believe all 

 derived at the time, viz., that there 

 would be further hearing and oppor- 

 tunity for the nurserymen to appear 

 before the Board during the present 

 summer before decided action were 

 taken as to this quarantine. It Is no- 

 ticeable that the recommendation of 

 the Board of February 5th in favor of 

 the quarantine was soon after made 

 effective by the Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture. 



"I am confident that no reputable 

 concern would wish to do other than 

 co-operate with the Department of Ag- 

 riculture and the Board in preventing 

 the introduction and dissemination ot 

 injurious insert pests as has been and 

 is the policy of this company, hut ad- 



mittedly at the hearing February 2nd 

 it was shown that the immediate quar- 

 antine as then proposed was not justi- 

 fiable, that there was a question 

 whether the comparatively few in- 

 stances of the pine moth could not be 

 exterminated by proper pruning and 

 care, nor do I think it was clearly 

 shown that an arbitrary action in de- 

 barring all pines, whether for forestry, 

 nursery purposes or other uses, would 

 not cause a far greater injustice, loss 

 and injury than the cost of effective 

 remedies on the part of the Govern- 

 ment, the different State Departments 

 and the co-operation ot the nursery 

 trade. 



"There are of course some nursery- 

 men, like some of the officials in Wash- 

 ington and elsewhere, who hail with 

 satisfaction or delight any prepense or 

 reason for debarring importations, but 

 to the great majority in the trade and 

 out of it this spirit, whether based 

 upon over-apprehension or the merce- 

 nary desire to cut off importations for 

 personal advantage, cannot represent 

 either the wishes or the interests of 

 the great majority of the nurserymen 

 and foresters and private planters o£ 

 the country who rely on same. 



"Should the Legislative Committee 

 of this and the Florists and other Na- 

 tional Associations take up this ques- 

 tion in the right manner I believe that 

 a modification of the present quaran- 

 tine on pines would be secured to the 

 mutual advantage of the trade as a 

 whole and purchasers ot this class of 

 evergreens generally." 



BOOM YOUR BUSINESS 



by adoerliiing your goods in the 



HorlLicdlture 



Publicity among the kind of readers reached 

 by this paper is THE SORT OF PUBLI- 

 CITY THAT PAYS. 



