APBIL 24, 1910. 



The Florists^ Review 



19 



Infested or Infected with insects or disease that 

 it rannot be adequately safeguarded, It may be 

 destroyed, and such destruction will not be made 

 the basis of a claim against the Department of 

 Agriculture for damages. The application must 

 be accompanied by a statement certifying that 

 the plants to be imported are novelties, or, if 

 standard varieties of foreign plants, that stocks 

 ]n adequate quantities for their propagation are 

 Qot available in this country, and that in either 

 (.gse they are to be Imported for the establish- 

 ment of reproduction plantings and not for im- 

 Qiediate or ultimate sale of the stocks actually 

 imported. In exceptional cases, the importation 

 of novelties may be made for personal use, but 

 not for sale. The application must also give the 

 name and address of the exporter, country and 

 locality where the stock was grown, the name 

 and address of the Importer and the name and 

 address of the nursery or other establishment 

 in which the plants are to be reproduced on re- 

 lea ^<e. 



"2. If the permit is issued, the applicant will 

 be furnished shipping instructions and shipping 

 tags, to be forwarded with his order to the ex- 

 porter. The plants will, in consequence, be ad- 

 drossed in bond to the U. S. Department of Ag- 

 riculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Washing- 

 toji. D. O., United States of America, and in- 

 dorsed, 'Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, 

 for (insert name of importer),' and arrangements 

 must be made with some responsible agency in 

 Washington for the clearance of the plants when 

 reieived through the customhouse at George- 

 to^rn, D. C, together with the payment of all 

 charges involved. 



"3. Upon clearance through the Georgetown 

 customhouse, the matefrlal will be turned over 

 to the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduc- 

 tion by the authorized agent of the importer, and 

 in the specially equipped inspection houses, and 

 under expert care «s to the welfare of the 

 plants, be carefully examined by Inspectors of 

 the Federal Horticultural Board. If found free 

 from dangerous insects or diseases, the shipment 

 will be Immediately and carefully repacked and 

 forwarded by express, charges collect, to the 

 importer. 



"4. Cleaning and disinfection will occur for 

 slight infestation, but should the material be 

 found to be so Infected or infested with either 

 disease or insects that it cannot be so adequately 

 safeguarded. It will either be destroyed, or, when 

 possible and desirable, returned to the point of 

 origin." 



It will te a condition, not a theory, 

 the trade will have. to contend with in 

 about a month. < 



HOW TO STEBILIZE SOIL. 



Amendment No. 1 to the regulations 

 supplemental to Notice of Quarantine 

 No. 37 provides that the requirement of 

 Begulation 3 as to freedom from sand, 

 soil, or earth of nursery stock and other 

 plants and seeds permitted entry under 

 that regulation, shall not apply to sand, 

 soil, or earth used for packing the ar- 

 ticles enumerated in Item No. 1 when 

 such sand, soil, or earth has been pre- 

 viously sterilized in accordance with 

 methods prescribed by the Federal Hor- 

 ticultural Board under the supervision 

 of a duly authorized inspector of the 

 country of origin. 



The requirement as to sterilization 

 may be met by heating the sand, soil, 

 or earth to a temperature of 100 degrees 

 Centigrade (212 degrees Fahrenheit) 

 and maintaining that temperature for a 

 period of one hour. Such sterilization is 

 accomplished at one of the field stations 

 of this department by the use of a large 

 iron receptacle holding about a cubic 

 yard of soil. A fire is built under the 

 receptacle and in a short period the con- 

 tained earth is heated sufficiently to kill 

 all larvae, nematodes, etc. It is neces- 

 sary to keep the soil stirred while heat- 

 ing. Any device which will maintain 

 the heat at the required temperature for 

 one hour will be satisfactory to the 

 board. 



The invoice covering importations of 

 bulbs packed in such sterilized sand, 

 soil, or earth must be. accompanied by a 

 certificate of a duly authorized inspector 

 of the country of origin to the effect 

 that the required sterilization has been 

 accomplished under his direction. The 

 certificate should indicate the marks and 

 numbers on the cases and should contain 

 such other information as may be neces- 



Lilies Grown in Bermuda in a Boston Wholesale Hotise. 



sary to identify the cases which it 

 covers. C. L. Marlatt, Chairman. 



INVESTIQATING SHIPS' BALLAST. 



Objectors to the plant quarantine 

 have insisted that there is as much 

 danger of the introduction of insect 

 pests in the earth used as ballast by 

 ships returning from Europe, as in the 

 earth around foreign plants imported in 

 balls, pots or tubs. The earth around 

 balled, potted or tubbed plants cannot 

 be disinfected or cleaned, says a recent 

 statement from Washington, and in- 

 volves a large and known risk. In view 

 of the argument that earth ballast is 

 equally dangerous, the Federal Horticul- 

 tural Board, during the last two months, 

 has undertaken a thorough investiga- 

 tion of such ships' ballast. This inves- 

 tigation has had special relation to the 

 ports of New York and Boston, but is 

 being extended to cover New Orleans, 

 San Francisco and other principal ports 

 of the United States. 



The material employed for ballast 

 would seem to involve little risk of be- 

 ing the means of the introduction of 

 dangerous plant enemies, according to 

 statements made by the investigators of 

 the Department of Agriculture. The 

 bulk of it consists of sand, gravel, bro- 

 ken rock, and even ashes. Soil is occa- 

 sionally employed, but in the main this 

 soil seems to have been derived from 

 river banks or from excavations for 

 construction purposes; in other words, 

 such primeval soil as has had probably 

 little or no touch with cultivated land. 



It is perfectly apparent that there is 

 little danger from such material, and 

 it can not be considered in the same 

 sense at all as the highly cultivated soil 

 coming with plants grown in green- 

 houses or in gardens or fields, and should 

 any insect life get into such ballast ma- 

 terial, it would be accidental and ex- 

 ceptional. This investigation, however, 

 will be continued to determine whether 

 there is any danger in connection with 

 such ballast which should be guarded 

 against. ^ 



LILIES FROM BERMUDA. 



This was an Easter of many unusual 

 features, but probably the most unique 



stunt pulled off was that of B. A. Sny- 

 der & Co., Boston, who obtained large 

 quantities of Harrisii lilies from Ber- 

 muda. Julius Snyder went to Bermuda 

 to make the arrangements, spending two 

 weeks on his trip. While Harrisii bulbs 

 are not grown in Bermuda in anything 

 like the extent of a few years ago, there 

 still are large fields which are in good 

 bloom the first half of April. Each year 

 small quantities of these flowers come 

 to New York. One customhouse brok- 

 erage firm has handled these shipments 

 for many years, distributing them over 

 the eastern half of the United States. 

 At one time a quantity of the flowers 

 found their way into the trade, but 

 recently florists have not been handling 

 them. 



With the undoubted shortage of gi- 

 ganteums in view, Julius Snyder ar- 

 ranged for a large shipment of the Ber- 

 muda Harrisii flowers. They were cut 

 in bud, the stems wrapped in damp moss 

 and packed in wooden crates. The first 

 shipment reached Boston April 12 and 

 the accompanying illustration is repro- 

 duced from a photograph made that day 

 in the basement sorting room of Snyder 

 & Co. The flowers were graded, given 

 a drink and repacked for shipment, go- 

 ing to every state in the eastern half 

 of the country and a few of them far 

 west. 



Bostonians never had seen so many 

 Easter lilies in one place before. The 

 price asked was considerably below the 

 price of greenhouse giganteums, but it 

 is said to have turned a profitable specu- 

 lation for the enterprising promoters. 



NEW YORK. 



The Market. 

 The Easter cut flower business was 

 eminently satisfacory to growers and 

 to the wholesale trade, in all but one 

 thing, that being lilies. For many days 

 before Easter growers and commission 

 men proclaimed a shortage of lilies for 

 Easter and predicted that, in conse- 

 quence, the price of these flowers would 

 be high, probably as much as 35 cents 

 to 40 cents or more. A few early sales 

 were recorded at approximately these 

 figures, but general buying was held up 

 and little pre-Easter buying was done, 



