I9RJSTS 



PROTESTS 



QUARANTINE 



At the closing session of the Detroit convention, after spirited discus- 

 sion following the address of C. L. Marlatt, chairman of the Federal Horti- 

 cidtural Board, the S. A. F. passed resolutions unanimously protesting against 

 the regulations of Quarantine 37 and the autocratic methods of the board. 



^'^sr^ 



■a!^^^=i|HE appearance of Dr. C. 

 /' I » L. Marlatt, chairman of 



^» I the Federal Horticultural 



V" J^ Board, before the conven- 

 k ^ tion of the Society of 

 l^»i^ American Florists at its 

 ^"■v^ closing session was the oc- 

 fy ff^ casion for direct fire by 



s^^=^=i members of the society on 

 the board and its handi- 

 work, Quarantine No. 37. The after- 

 noon was easily the livest of the sessions 

 of the convention. The discussion which 

 followed Dr. Marlatt 's address was not 

 confined to disapproval of the embargo. 

 It included criticism of the board itself, 

 its composition, its conduct, its judg- 

 ment and its attitude in regard to the 

 interests affected by its rulings. 



Dr. Marlatt undertook to outline the 

 work of the board, to show its impor- 

 tance to the agriculture of the country. 

 In comparison with the agricultural in- 

 terests involved, the horticultural in- 

 terests were slight in- 

 deed. The board, he said, '* 

 spends a million dollars 

 annually and directs the 

 spending of auother mil- 

 lion from other sources. 

 Out of this sum the 

 amount expended on hor- 

 ticulture is onlv about 

 $50,000. To fight the 

 boll weevil in the cotton 

 fields vast amounts are 

 necessary; to combat cit- 

 rous fruit pests $300,000 

 has been spent; the corn 

 borer has drawn $250,- 

 000 from the board and 

 Congress may be called 

 upon for $500,000 more. 



To Save Agriculture. 



In order that the vital 

 necessities, such as corn, 

 wheat, cotton, etc., may 

 not be endangered, the 

 horticultural industries 

 are called upon to make 

 the sacrifice entailed by 

 Quarantine No. 37. 

 When one pest may 

 cause 80 much havoc as 

 one of these, the only 

 safe course, according to 

 the board, is to bar the 

 way to foreign insects as 

 completely as possible. 



That the embargo is 

 not a newly conceived 

 idea, but had been 

 fought for by himself 

 for many years, was de- 

 clared bv Dr. Marlatt. 



The intention had been to impose re- 

 strictions gradually, eventually exclud- 

 ing all importations about 1925. But 

 the success with which the lid was 

 placed on importations during the war 

 led to the belief that the measure could 

 be enforced at once. So the quarantine 

 went into effect as it did. 



Dr. Marlatt explained also that the 

 actions of the board were not the re- 

 sult of personal judgments of five men, 

 but were based upon the information 

 supplied the board by state entomolo- 

 gists and inspectors all over the coun- 

 try. He insisted that, however little 

 acquainted these men might be with 

 florists' stock, they were authorities on 

 insect pests and plant diseases. What- 

 ever errors had been made in the quaran- 

 tine would, he said, have to be remedied 

 by amendments, but he believed the em- 

 bargo was, in the main, right and would 

 be permanent. 



Upon the conclusion of Dr. Marlatt 's 



Abraham Lincoln Miller. 



(l'r«8idpnt elect Sorlety of Aiuerican Florists.) 



remarks W. F. Gude presented the re- 

 port of the committee on tariff and 

 legislation, held over from the previous 

 day. In this report, published in full 

 on another page of this issue, he told of 

 the efforts made against the quaran- 

 tine's enactment. He concluded with a 

 request for definite instructions from 

 the society in convention, to give the 

 committee greater backing in any fur- 

 ther action it might take. 



The subject was then declared open 

 for discussion. 



H. B. Dorner, stating that he spoke 

 from his personal viewpoint and not as 

 representing the University of Illinois, 

 where he is professor of floriculture, 

 drew much applause when he declared 

 that the trade was not against a quaran- 

 tine, but that what it wanted was a 

 sane quarantine. 



Condemning the conduct of the Fed- 

 eral Horticultural Board in imposing 

 tlie quarantine as autocratic, J. K. M. 

 L. Farquhar, of Boston, 

 said, "You have struck 

 the horticulture of this 

 country the hardest blow 

 it has ever received." 

 He pointed out incon- 

 sistencies in the rulings 

 of the board, particular- 

 ly in regard to bulbs, 

 and criticised the board 

 not only in regard to its 

 actions but also in re- 

 gjivrl to the manner in 

 which it took action. 



Injustice Charged. 



Transmitting the pro- 

 test of Philadelphia re- 

 tailers, Charles H. 

 (Irakelow asked of Dr. 

 Marlatt, first, how plants 

 fiourished so well in for- 

 eign countries whence 

 came the pests that 

 proved so damaging 

 here, and, second, why 

 tlie growers of plants 

 were not represented on 

 the board which made 

 decisions so vital to their 

 interests. 



John E. Lager, of Sum- 

 mit, N. J., and Joseph 

 Manda, of West Orange, 

 N. J., dwelt on the in- 

 justice done the orchid 

 growers of the country, 

 who, after cheerfully ac- 

 (luiescing in the war em- 

 bargo, were allowed no 

 opportunity to obtain a 

 stock from abroad be- 



