PROTECTING AMERICAN CROP PLANTS 85 



The statement in the recent memorandum issued by the Federal 

 Horticultural Board that debarred plants "could be promptly 

 produced in this country" was entirely contrary to facts. Was he 

 aware that it required 5 to 10 years to raise orchids from seed to 

 the flowering stage? That bay trees such as are demanded here 

 are 10 to 25 years old, boxwoods 12 to 15 years old, and rhodo- 

 dendrons, azaleas, araucarias, and other plants, including the 

 growing of stocks to be grafted on, 6 to 7 years old? Who was 

 willing to begin the propagation of these plants here and wait 

 long years without any financial returns and probably have a new 

 Federal Horticultural Board take off the quarantine? 



W^e could not produce satisfactory fruit and rose stocks here and 

 had to import them. Holland threatened to prohibit exports of 

 these stocks. If Britain and France did likewise what would 

 growers here do? Rose stocks were to be admitted and grafted 

 roses debarred. Was there any more possible danger from one 

 than the other? The Lecturer admitted that all of heroic Belgium's 

 products were to be debarred, as there was grave danger of injuri- 

 ous pests coming in on soil. Why did they permit the unchecked 

 importation of one thousand bales of peat moss litter uninspected 

 and unfumigated from the same country? 



Why did not the Lecturer tell the audience that the gipsy moth, 

 our worst New England pest, did not come in on nursery stock but 

 was turned loose by an entomologist near Boston? That the corn 

 root borer came in on hemp stock or rope, which latter commodities 

 are still permitted entry? That the pink boll worm and Hessian 

 fly did not come in on nursery stock? That the white pine blister 

 rust came in on an importation made by the U. S. Government 

 itself, and that the chestnut bark disease arrived on the hoofs of 

 animals sent to the New York Zoological Gardens? 



The whole measure was full of inconsistencies and clearly showed 

 the folly of allowing a board which contained no practical horti- 

 culturists to make up so iniquitous a quarantine. This board 

 was created to protect our plants from enemy alien pests but it 

 looks as if they were endeavoring to put through a tariff measure 

 at the behests of a small minority of propagators and nurserymen. 



Attempts to produce azaleas and rhododendrons on a large scale 

 on the Pacific coast had resulted in complete failure. There was 



