HORTICULTURE 



Vol. xxx 



JULY 12, 1919 



No. 2 



NOVELTIES AND NURSERYMEN 



The discussion in Horticulture 

 about the introduction of novelties, the 

 apparent lack of enterprise on the part 

 o£ some nurserymen, the value of ad- 

 vertising and the like, has aroused no 

 little interest. Mr. Wyman, of the Fra- 

 mingham Nurseries, has written a let- 

 ter in which he presents a phase of 

 the matter which has not been taken 

 up before. It may be that his point of 

 view is not that of all nurserymen, and 

 it will be interesting if a discussion 

 can be started which will bring out 

 the attitude of the trade in general. 

 Mr. Wyman's letter follows: 



"In the June 21 issue of Horticul- 

 ture under the heading "Rambling Ob- 

 servations of a Roving Gardener," the 

 subject of advertising plant novelties 

 attracted my attention. The author of 

 the paragraph beginning "Rosa Hugo- 

 nis was put across by publicity," if I 

 mistake not, made a very similar ut- 

 terance at the meeting of the New 

 England Nurserymen's Association 

 held in Boston last January. 



"To his contention Mr. J. Edward 

 Moon, the well-known Pennsylvania 

 Nurseryman, gave the following 

 answer: 'We cannot patent our plant 

 novelties.' As everybody knows a man- 

 ufacturer can patent any invention or 

 discovery he makes and thereby re- 

 ceives protection for a period of sev- 

 eral years. During this period only he 

 can manufacture this article unless 

 he permits others to manufacture 

 upon a royalty basis. 



"Again, as everybody knows, nurs- 

 erymen have not this protection. We 

 can spend time, effort and money in 

 propagating, testing and advertising 

 a new plant but our neighbor can steal 

 a cutting or two or a few seeds, start 

 propagating and when the demand has 

 been created by the originator the 

 aforesaid neighbor can reap the bene- 

 fit without fear of legal prosecution. 

 This is not a theoretical case at all. 



"Please do not misunderstand my at- 

 titude as being opposed to advertising 

 what you have to sell but along with 

 Mr. Moon I maintain that it is seldom 

 practical to advertise extensively any 



plant novelty until the firm who origi- 

 nates or introduces this plant shall be 

 afforded reasonable protection. 



"This is undoubtedly a matter for 

 the American Association of Nursery- 

 men to take up. It would be necessary 

 for the association to establish a plant 

 registry having as its registrar a man 

 well up in the horticultural world but 

 not interested in the nursery business; 

 a man such as Professor Sargent of the 

 Arnold Arboretum, for instance. 



"The next step would be to get a 

 federal law enacted providing patent 

 protection to the originating or intro- 

 ducing firm who had first registered 

 the plant at the plant registry. Until 

 such arrangements can be made, I be- 

 lieve it would be impracticable to ad- 

 vertise extensively any plant novelty." 



Another Angle 



Apparently there are many angles 

 from which this whole question may be 

 viewed. The attitude of the layman 

 who is almost enough of an expert to 

 be called a professional is reflected in 

 an article by Louise B. Wilder, in the 

 Garden Magazine for July. Under the 

 title of "The Blindness of Dealers," 

 Mrs. Wilder says: "Last month the 

 editor (of the Garden Magazine) 

 administered to the plant dealers, 

 seedsmen, etc., a shaking up that has 

 been wanting for a long time. May it 

 bear fruit! It is not meet that Ameri- 

 can gardeners who are interested be- 

 yond the elementary stages of their 

 craft should have to turn to Europe 

 for material with which to pursue it. 

 Just now the country is swept by a 

 wave of enthusiasm for rock garden- 

 ing; but how few are the rock plants 

 that are to be procured at home! A 

 search through dozens of catalogues 

 will reveal few beyond the most or- 

 dinary kinds. In the matter of seed 

 the situation is even more barren. A 

 lady wrote me a few days ago, after 

 reading an article in Country Life 

 upon this phase of gardening, wherein 

 only easily grown rock plants were 

 mentioned, that she was unable to find 

 seed of a single one of these plants in 

 the catalogue of one of our most prom- 

 inent eastern seedsmen! Just fancy! 

 I should be ashamed to put into print 

 the number of times a year I am under 



the necessity of giving the names of 

 foreign seedsmen to persons who in- 

 quire where they may find the seeds of 

 plants that have been grown freely in 

 my garden for years. English seeds- 

 men are establishing in this country 

 branches that are widely patronized. 

 Are our seedsmen blind to this fact, or 

 are they simply indifferent? And are 

 they and the nurserymen unconscious 

 of the nation-wide barter and trade 

 that is going on among serious ama- 

 teurs who divide and share their 

 treasures down to the last detachable 

 bit that knowledge of this great craft 

 shall increase and interest in it be 

 kept alive? And that because the 

 dealers will not, or at all events do not, 

 cater to the demand. 



"A few years ago one of our most 

 progressive nurserymen, who has since 

 died, told me that at a gathering or 

 convention of his fellows, he was se- 

 verely taken to task by the head cf 

 another large nursery firm for his ef- 

 forts to collect and introduce new 

 plants to the American gardening pub- 

 lic, on the grounds of "let well enough 

 alone." This is significant and alarm- 

 ing. Of course there are persons here 

 and there in the horticultural trade of 

 our country who are doing good and 

 progressive work, and to them all 

 honor and gratitude is due. But the 

 situation on the whole needs a deal 

 of improving." 



GIVEN CERTIFICATES OF MERIT. 



Among the exhibits at the recent an- 

 nual meeting of the American National 

 Nurserymen's Association at Chicago, 

 The Elm City Nursery Co., of New 

 Haven, Conn., staged an attractive ex- 

 hibit of BOX-BARBERRY, the new 

 dwarf form of Berberis Thunbergii, 

 also a specimen plant of the IBOLIUM 

 Privet, the new hybrid form between 

 Ibota and Ovalifolium, which is 

 quite as hardy as Ibota and 

 very much resembles California 

 Privet in habit and general ap- 

 pearance. Both were given a Certifi- 

 cate of Merit by the Association. The 

 Aurora Nursery Co., of Aurora, 111., 

 staged a fine plant of Cotoneaster 

 Acutus which also received a certifi- 

 cate. 



