JANOABZ 15, 1920. 



The Florists^ Review 



19 



NOW COMES THE TUG OF WAR 



r»^ifrstiri«vir«\irA8vir)«<ir)«vir«viri«vir^r«vYsvirrs\ir/svir)«\^ 



|0 THE trade, familiar with 

 the events in the promulga- 

 tion of Quarantine No. 37, 

 there is a load of meaning 

 in an innocent enough look- 

 ing notice issuing from the 

 office of the secretary of the 

 Federal Horticultural Board under date 

 of January 5, regarding a public hearing 

 on the "proposed extension of the quar- 

 antine on account of the Japanese beetle 

 in New Jersey." It proposes to add to 

 the present restriction on the movement 

 of green corn, not only vegetables, fruits 

 and forage and grain crops, but also 

 "nursery and greenhouse products, in- 

 cluding trees, shrubs, plants of all kinds, 

 bulbs and flowers. ' ' Indeed, there seems 

 to be little that grows which is not 

 included. The territory that it speci- 

 fies includes ^the townships of Del- 

 ran, Chester, Qinnaminson, 

 Palmyra, Mount Laurel and 

 Eiverside and the borough 

 of Riverton in Burlington 

 county, and the townships of 

 Pensauken and Delaware and 

 the borough of Merchant- 

 ville in Camden county." 

 The quarantine at present 

 in force, which is only in 

 regard to green corn, ap- 

 plies to only the townships 

 of Delran, Chester and 

 Cinnaminson, in Burlington 

 county, N. J. 



ing quarantine has rarely been placed 

 upon a locality. 



Members of the trade readily recall 

 that a year ago Henry A. Dreer, Inc., 

 was one of the leading opponents of 

 Quarantine No. 37. In the hearings con- 

 cerning it, in the arguments presented 

 to the board, to the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture and to Congress, this firm was 

 one of the leaders in opposing the adop- 

 tion of the quarantine which closed the 

 doors of the United States against so 

 many classes of stock which the trade 

 formerly imported from foreign coun- 

 tries. 



A Little History. 



A circular sent out to the trade by 

 Henry A. Dreer, Inc., was published in 

 The Review for January 9, 1919, as a 

 page advertisement, informing the trade 



On the Map. 



Of all these places, most 

 of which do not appear in 

 an ordinary atlas, only one 

 is on the horticultural map. 

 That is Riverton, N. J., 

 where the great establish- 

 ment of Henry A. Dreer, 

 Inc., is located. There are 

 a few small nurseries in the 

 places named, in addition, 

 but none of them is large 

 or known beyond the state 

 borders. 



The effect of the proposed 

 quarantine of the district, 

 if it goes into effect, will 

 be to completely shut off 

 the shipment of stock of any kind from 

 the vast nurseries and greenhouses 

 of Henry A. Dreer, Inc. The classes of 

 stock named are so inclusive that one is 

 unable to think of any item which could 

 pass the boundaries of the quarantined 

 area, should the hearings result in the 

 promulgation of a restrictive order. 



Whether the Japanese beetle can be 

 carried by all of the products of nursery 

 and greenhouse is a question that one 

 would like to have answered by expert 

 entomologists. In most quarantines the 

 classes of stock, if greenhouse and nurs- 

 ery stock are both included with grain, 

 fruits and vegetables at all, are few in 

 number, including only those which act 

 as host to the particular pest against 

 which the quarantine is directed. In 

 this quarantine, however, though only 

 the movement of green corn was re- 

 stricted previously, it is intended to 

 forbid shipment of everything a nurs- 

 erymaH or florist grows. A more sweep- 



"Whether the action taken by the Federal 

 Horticultural Board is in accordance with the 

 law as enacted by Congress, which created 

 their power, we do not feel competent to pass 

 upon, but we are satisfied, however, and con- 

 fident that it was not intended as the spirit of 

 this act, that the policies and destinies of the 

 entire horticultural trade, with its millions of 

 dollars of investment, should be placed in the 

 hands of five members of the Department of 

 Agriculture." — From the protest against Quar- 

 antine No. 37 published by Henry A. Dreer, 

 Inc., January 9, 1919. 



opinion of the experts of this depart- 

 ment and of the state of New Jersey 

 who have investigated the matter, was 

 brought in by the Dreer nursery with 

 importations of iris from Japan. The 

 insect first appeared in the heart of the 

 Dreer nurseries and has spread from this 

 center over an area approximately of 

 25,000 acres, involving four townships 

 in J^^ew Jersey opposite Philadelphia." 

 It is this same beetle, so vividly 

 brought to the fore a year ago, which 

 is now the cause of the proposal to ex- 

 tend the quarantine, at present apply- 

 ing only to green corn, to include all of 

 the products such as come from the es- 

 tablishment of Hen^y A. Dreer, Inc. 

 The bug which a year ago served merely 

 to illustrate an argument today threat- 

 ens to bar the products of one of the 

 greatest growing establishments in the 

 country from their markets. 

 What the Federal Horti- 

 cultural Board concluded re- 

 garding the Japanese beetle 

 in its report for the year 

 ended June 30, 1919, is in- 

 teresting reading. It says: 



Board on Beetle. 



of the effects the quarantine would 

 have. To this Dr. Marlatt, chairman 

 of the Federal Horticultural Board, re- 

 plied at great length, in a document of 

 approximately 4,000 words, defending 

 the board's action and disputing the 

 statements of the Dreer protest. 



It was in this "memorandum," as it 

 was entitled, that Dr. Marlatt laid the 

 introduction of the Japanese beetle to 

 this firm. He said: 



"The Japanese beetle, brought in 

 about the same time as the peach moth, 

 has already obtained such firm foothold 

 that in view of its habits and powers 

 of prolonged flight it is probably incapa- 

 ble of extermination and will no doubt 

 ultimately overspread the United States. 

 It attacks not only practically all fruits, 

 but also many garden vegetables and 

 corn. The amount of damage which it 

 will ultimately cause to American agri- 

 culture is undoubtedly tremendous. It 

 is worthy of note that this beetle, in the 



' ' The Japanese beetle, re- 

 ported to be one of the most 

 injurious insects in Japan, 

 was apparently introduced 

 seven or eight years ago in 

 the vicinity of Riverton, 

 N. J., in soil with imported 

 iris roots. When this insect 

 had increased sufficiently to 

 attract notice it had thor- 

 oughly established itself 

 over some 600 acres and at 

 present covers perhaps 10,- 

 000 acres, with outlying 

 points of infestation in- 

 volving approximately 25,- 

 000 acres. The Japanese 

 beetle is a general feeder, 

 attacking the grape, peach, 

 plum, apple and cherry, as 

 well as many ornamental 

 plants and weeds and vari- 

 ous truck crops, such as 

 sweet potato and especially 

 Bweet corn. In the case of 

 corn the beetle penetrates the tips of 

 the ears, working in much the same way 

 as the common ear worm, and as it re- 

 mains in these ears for an indefinite 

 period, it is possible to transmit it wide- 

 ly with shipments of green corn to vari- 

 ous markets. 



"Following the discovery of possi- 

 bilities of wide harm to various agri- 

 cultural products, a hearing on the sub- 

 ject of this pest was conducted, and a 

 quarantine was shortly thereafter pro- 

 mulgated covering the territory more or 

 less invaded by this insect, namely, the 

 townships of Delran, Chester and Cin- 

 naminson, county of Burlington, N. J. 

 Inasmuch as the probable sole export 

 from these townships of plants which 

 would be the means of conveying the 

 insect is sweet corn, the quarantine pro- 

 hibits the movement interstate from the 

 quarantined district of green sweet or 

 sugar corn other than in accordance 

 with the rules and regulations drawn 



