16 



The Florists^ Review 



Febbuabt 13, 1919. 



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FEDESAIi BOABD REPLIES. 



Defends Its Quarantine Order. 



Because of the storm of protest which 

 broke about the Federal Horticultural 

 Board the moment the drastic nature of 

 its quarantine order was realized, Dr. 

 C. L. Marlatt, chairman, has- felt im- 

 pelled to issue a document of some 4,000 

 words — about eight columns of The Re- 

 view — explaining and defending its ac- 

 tion. The "Memorandum," as Dr. Mar- 

 latt calls it, principally is a reply to the 

 "Protest" of Henry A. Dreer, Inc., 

 sent in circular form to many interested 

 and published as a page advertisement 

 in The Review of January 9. This docu- 

 ment Dr. Marlatt holds responsible for 

 "practically all" the protest which has 

 arisen. 



In his memorandum Dr. Marlatt seeks 

 to refute the charge that the trade has 

 been ignored and seeks to give the im- 

 pression that a considerable proportion 

 of the trade approves the action of the 

 board. He says: 



Steps Leading to the Quarantine. 



"The need for additional restrictions 

 on the importation of nursery stock and 

 other plants and seeds has been under 

 careful consideration by the board for 

 several years. This need has been em- 

 phasized by numerous requests and reso- 

 lutions urging greater restrictions on 

 plant importations, received from offi- 

 cials and associations representing state 

 departments of agriculture, state nurs- 

 ery inspectors and official entomologists 

 and plant pathologists of the United 

 States. Similar requests have been re- 

 ceived from national and state forestry, 

 horticultural and other allied associa- 

 tions, and from many leading nursery- 

 men and florists. As a basis for such 

 additional restrictions a public hearing 

 was conducted at this department May 

 28, 3918, and the proposed restrictions 

 were thoroughly discussed with all the 

 interests involved, including both im- 

 porting nurserymen and seedsmen, as 

 well as leading i)roducing nurserymen 

 and florists. 



"Following this hoariiijj and at the 

 request of the board, the subject was 

 given careful study in all of its phases 

 by the plant experts of the Department 

 of Agriculture over a period of several 

 months, in the course of which many of 

 the princii)al nursery and florist estab- 

 lishments of the United States were 

 visited by these experts and the details 

 of the pro])osed quarantine were dis- 

 cussed with the ])crsons in charge of 

 these establishments. As a result of 

 this extended inquiry a tentative draft 

 of proposed regulations was formulated 

 and submitted to the principal nursery- 

 men of the country. A final conference 

 was then held in the office of the chair- 

 man of the board, Octol)er 18, 1918, at 

 which all interested parties were invltert 

 to submit criticisms or suggestions either 

 in person or by letter. The quarantine 

 and regulations as promulgated repre- 

 sent, therefore, the best judgment of 

 the plant experts of this department 



Zn the Senate of the United 

 States, February 7, a largre part of 

 the day was devoted to debate de- 

 nnnciatory of the order of the Brit- 

 ish Board of Trade restrlotinff the 

 importation of articles principally 

 manufactured in the United States. 

 But none of the Senators who 

 loudly demanded action by our 

 State Department seemed aware 

 that one of our own sroTemmental 

 agrencies, the Federal Horticultural 

 Board, had fired the first shot in 

 commercial warfare by prohibit- 

 ing' imports of plants principally 

 produced in England, France, Bel- 

 gium and Holland. 



It is presumed British nursery- 

 men will seek to prevent the with- 

 drawal of the embargoes of which 

 the United States complains until 

 our government cancels its quar- 

 antine against British nursery 

 products. 



based on this extended consideration of 

 the entire subject. 



Objections in Letters of Protest. 



' ' Recently numerous letters have 

 reached the department protesting 

 against the enforcement of the quaran- 

 tine. Practically all of these letters 

 are in response to a printed circular en- 

 titled 'Protest Against the Horticultural 

 Import Prohibition,' signed by Henry A. 

 Dreer, of Philadelphia, and sent to 

 nurserymen all over the country. Most 

 of the letters received simply repeat the 

 statements contained in Mr. Dreer 's 

 circular letter. 



"In that letter reference is made to 

 what is considered inconsistencies in the 

 regulations in that they permit the 

 entry of rose stocks for propagation 

 and of six varieties of bulbs, while they 

 exclude budded or grafted roses and all 

 bulbs with the exception of the six 

 varieties referred to. 



"During the period when the quaran- 

 tine was under discussion the Federal 

 Horticultural Board was urged very 

 strongly by many advisers, including 

 horticultural and forestry associations 

 and state plant inspectors and their or- 

 ganizations and many American grow- 

 ers, to prohibit the imj)ortati()n of all 

 nursery stock and other plants, on the 

 ground that all such plants are sources 

 of risk of introducing dangerous insects 

 and plant diseases. 



"Such dangers do exist. They are 

 greatest in importations from little 

 known countries, many of which do not 

 maintain any system of inspection. The 

 dange"Ts are proportionally greater 

 among n the miscellaneous classes of 

 nursery stock and other jdants, includ- 

 ing bulbs, which are imported in smaller 

 quantities, but which rejjresent numer- 

 ous genera and sjtecies and may bring 

 in a corresponding number of new plant 

 pests. 



Why Discriminate? 



"While complete exclusion undoubt- 

 edly affords the greatest measure of 



safety, the governing principle in the 

 quarantine is to limit plant introduc- 

 tions to the classes of plants which have 

 been represented by the plant interests 

 concerned in this country as being es- 

 sential to plant production; in other 

 words, the raw material out of which 

 salable fruit trees, roses, etc., are made. 

 To these were added certain classes of 

 plants, including bulbs and seeds, which 

 could be reasonably safeguarded by in- 

 spection and disinfection. 



"In the case of rose stocks the dis- 

 tinction between stocks on the one hand 

 and budded or grafted roses on the 

 other was made with a view to limit- 

 ing importations largely to such stocks 

 as are usually grown in commercial 

 nurseries where special care is exercised 

 to control and eradicate pests. The 

 stocks permitted entry under Item 3 of 

 Regulation 3 are practically always 

 grown in commercial nurseries, while 

 budded and grafted rose plants may, im- 

 mediately upon their arrival in the 

 United States, be shipped broadcast 

 over the country to consumers who pay 

 little or no attention to the eradication 

 of any insects or diseases the plants 

 may carry. Rose stocks, furthermore, 

 as imported are seldom more than 1 

 year old, whereas the finished rose plants 

 are 2 years or more old and consequent- 

 ly correspondingly more likely to be the 

 means of introducing pests. 



To Admit Novelties. 



' ' With respect to bulbs it was realized 

 that a danger existed and the entry was 

 restricted to classes of bulbs least sub- 

 ject to risk of bringing in new pests 

 and which, from their nature, could be 

 most readily inspected and determined 

 as clean. The excluded bulbs involve the 

 less important and miscellaneous im- 

 portations coming from widely scat- 

 tered sources and the entry of which is 

 attended with much greater risk of in- 

 troduction of plant diseases and insect 

 pests. 



"Provision is made in the quarantine 

 for the entry in limited quantities of 

 these prohibited bulbs and other plants 

 through the office of Foreign Seed and 

 Plant Introduction of this department, 

 for the purpose of keeping the country 

 supplied with new varieties and the 

 necessary propagating stock — such entry 

 necessarily being safeguarded by the 

 highly developed inspection and quaran- 

 tine service now organized by this de- 

 partment. It is impracticable to give 

 this type of inspection to commercial 

 importations. The cost would be pro- 

 hibitive, especially under conditions 

 which would require very frequent pro- 

 vision for holding the imported material 

 in quarantine for a period of months or 

 years, and the necessity for very high 

 grade and expert inspectors. Further- 

 more, inspectors with the training re- 

 quired for this critical work are not 

 available for handling importations of 

 these restricted classes of plants on a 

 commercial scale. 



Quarantine Was Approved 



"Mr. Dreer 's letter also convevs the 



