;J2 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 22(5. 



THE PROGRESS OF NURSERY TREE CERTIFICATION 



BY J. K. SHAW 



The certification of varieties of fruit trees for trueness to name rests 

 on the possibility of recognizing varieties by the trees in the nursery row. 

 Tliat varieties could be so recognized has long been more or less well 

 known to nurserymen. 



Special studies of varieties of apple trees were begun at this station 

 about 1912, in connection with the project for the study of the Inter- 

 relation of Stock and Scion in Apples. By 1920 the writer had become 

 convinced that it was possible to detect misnamed trees in the nursery row 

 with practical certainty. In June, 1921, a meeting was called to consider 

 the possibility of certifying nursery trees and thus minimize or eliminate 

 the misnamed tree that had been a source of considerable loss to fruit 

 growers of Massachusetts and other states, also to nurserymen and tree 

 dealers. At this meeting were representatives of the Department of Po- 

 mology of the College and Station, the State Department of Agriculture 

 and the Massachusetts Fruit Growers' Association. The possibilities of 

 certification were discussed and a tentative plan of operations outlined. 

 At a meeting held at Amherst in August, 1921, the Massachusetts Fruit 

 Growers' Association voted to sponsor this plan, and it was first put in 

 operation in September, 1921, and has been continued on a constantly 

 enlarging scale each succeeding year. 



For the first two years, work was done in Massachusetts nurseries only. 

 It soon appeared that little ]irogress could be made unless the work was 

 extended to nurseries outside the state, because only an insignificant por- 

 tion of the trees planted in the state are grown here. Consequently ar- 

 rangements were made in 1923 to certify trees for a western New York 

 firm that sells a considerable number of trees to Massachusetts growers. 

 In order to avoid a possible charge of favoring any particular nursery- 

 men, certification was offered in 1924 to any nursery desiring it, and this 

 policy has since been followed. The following table shows the development 

 of the work: 



Year 



1921 

 1922 

 1923 

 1924 

 192.5 



Totals 369346 14362 



The nursery firms now cooperating in the certification work sell i 

 large proportion of the trees bought by Massachusetts growers. It is 

 therefore possible for any grower in the state to buy trees with this in- 

 creased assurance of their being true to name. Too much stress should 

 not be laid on the number of trees refused certification. While it is 

 certain that practically every one of these was not true to the nursery 

 record or label, many of them were known to the nurserymen and would 

 not have been sold under wrong names; in most cases, however, it was a 

 surprise to the nurserymen to learn of these misnamed trees. On the 



