396 



HORTIC ULTU RE 



November 8, 1919 



HORTICULTURE 



Established by William .1. Stewart in 1904 



VOL. XXX 



NOVEMBER 8, 1919 



NO. 19 



I'lltl.IMIII) H KKKI.J 11Y 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

 78 Devonshire Street, Boston, Mass. 



EDWARD I. FARRINGTON, Editor. 

 Telephone Kurt Hill mj94 



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Entered as second-class matter December 8, 1904, at the Tost Office 

 at Boston, Mass., under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1N97. 



Considerable discussion has been brought 

 Tne about as a result of HORTicri.Trinc's pub- 



Gould Bill li cation of the Gould Bill in a recent 

 issue. At least one man who is very prom- 

 inent in the horticultural world has expressed himself 

 to the effect that the bill is altogether inadequate because 

 of the small appropriation which it makes. Neverthe- 

 less there are many members of the American Associa- 

 te of Nurserymen who think that the bill has merits 

 and that if it is passed the results will be of benefit to 

 the trade. The argument is something like this : If a 

 movement in this direction can be started, the project 

 officially approved by the government, and a precedent 

 established, the nurserymen will have a better chance to 

 get a larger and more satisfactory appropriation later. 

 One leader in the business puts the matter in this way, 

 "I remember that in my home town we once wanted a 

 gymnasium for the school. It meant getting a school 

 meeting to endorse the idea and vote authority for the 

 money. We asked for $7,500.00 because we thought we 

 could get that much. We did get it and we spent it. 

 It was not enough but it enabled us to make a showing 

 that got us $26,000.00 more to complete and equip the 

 gym. If we had started off with the request for the 

 larger sum we should have been turned down altogether. 

 Conditions have to be met with the means most likely to 

 bring results."' 



Perhaps, too, the purpose of the Gould Bill has been 

 somewhat misunderstood. The idea is not to produce 

 seedlings in quantities, but to carry on experimental 

 work and show the possibilities of growing seedlings 

 commercially in this country. Now here is a point 

 which must interest everybody who is engaged in horti- 

 cultural work. The Federal Horticultural Board has 

 claimed in justification of its quarantine regulation No. 

 37 that we can grow here at home all the stock that we 



require, so that we need not suffer from the shutting out) 

 of foreign stock. 



Perhaps that is true, hut if .-o the fact has never been 

 demonstrated. The stock never has been grown herd 

 and isn't being grown here now. Doesn't it stand to 

 reason that there are plenty of shrewd business men in 

 tlie nursery trade who would have seen the opportunity 

 to develop a market for seedlings if a profitable busi- 

 nrss of thai sort had been promised? Yet perhaps 

 people in general do not realize to what extent this has 

 actually been attempted. It has been tried in one in- 

 stance after another without satisfactory results. Per- 

 haps the Federal Horticultural Board doesn't know it, 

 but the fact remains. 



He that as it may. the board says that the thing can 

 be done, and now, candidly speaking, Hokticdxtdeb 

 would like to see the Hoard take a hand in trying it out. 

 If the Gould Bill is passed, perhaps it will bring about 

 some interesting developments that will not be without 

 benefit to the trade. 



Whatever may happen to the Gould Bill. 



New plant all( ] whether or not the mandate of the 



material Federal Horticultural Board continues in 

 force indefinitely, there is reason to l» 

 lieve that the present list of plant material is going to 

 show a great change in the near future. And this is 

 well. We think we are safe in saying that there are 

 many varieties of different plants which nurserymen 

 have continued growing largely through force of habit 

 or perhaps because they have followed along the line 

 of least resistance, as all of us are likely to do. The 

 result has been to perpetuate in the gardens of the coun- 

 try some plants which are not worthy a place there, at 

 least when compared with other plants which might be 

 substituted. Without doubt many splendid new things. 

 and indeed no little native material which has been 

 known in a limited way for a long time, has been sadly 

 neglected. No one can walk through the Arnold Ar- 

 boretum without wondering why it is that so many 

 of the magnificent shrubs and trees to be found there are 

 not obtainable from the nurserymen. The demand for 

 these new and better things is gradually making itself 

 beard and the nurserymen who has his ear to the ground 

 will get a stock and sell it. 



Mistakes may be made. Easy propagation may lead 

 nurserymen to offer plants which do not meet with 

 favor, but in the long run the enterprise is going to show 

 a profit. Within the next few years there is bound to be 

 a remaking of nursery catalogues all over the country, 

 and some of the old stuff which bad been considered 

 standard will go by the board. Among them will be 

 plants which while they flourish in gardens across the 

 water are not suitable for conditions here. 



When the nurserymen begin to take up the newer 

 plants with enthusiasm, exhibit them at the conven- 

 tions, get them written up in the trade papers, and illus- 

 trated in the catalogues, there will be no difficulty in 

 making sales. Indeed the work which the American 

 Association of Nurserymen is carrying along under the 

 direction of that very capable gentleman, Mr. John 

 Watson, will help to take care of this end of the mat- 

 ter. The difficulties come in obtaining a stock, for the 

 expenses of propagation and the process of getting ac- 

 quainted with the habits of new plants require time and 

 outlay. The extent to which the nurserymen work to- 

 gether in this matter, realizing that what is for the 

 advantage of one is for the advantage of all. will be 

 shown in the general results. This is an era of transi- 

 tion, though, and it is coming in the horticultural world 

 as elsewhere. 



