The Garden Magazine 



Barring Out Foreign Novelties 



Readers Express Opinions on the Exclusion Order of the Federal Horticultural Board and Suggest Action to Get the Case 



Fairly Before the Public 



Underground Legislation ?— Let's Get at the Truth 



THE letters printed below and which are representative of 

 others that we have received, demand serious consideration 

 from everyone concerned with the making of gardens and 

 the growing of plants, particularly owners. The feeling is 

 growing that knowingly or unknowingly, the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture and the Federal Horticultural Board are being used to pro- 

 mote the interests of particular sections of the horticultural industry 

 under the guise of an entirely different and beneficial purpose. 



It is fair to ask, whether the Department of Agriculture, through 

 the action of the Federal Horticultural Board, realizes that the order 

 to become effective June 1st. will result in directly creating "pro- 

 tection" while ostensibly only guarding against possible entry of in- 

 jurious insects and diseases. 



The suggestion of sinister influence behind the proposed order 

 (which unless countermanded by action in Congress becomes effective 

 June i st. next) is plainly suggested in the context of the letters printed 

 below. The attitude of the board and of the Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture is that they have the power and they will use it as they see fit. 

 That was, practically, the answer that Dr. Marlatt made to a de- 

 putation of nurserymen and florists and others interested when they 

 appeared before him last summer. Should such a board have such 



powers 



Never was there a greater need for all concerned in the cultivation 

 of plants to be on the alert. If this order goes into effect unmodified, 



its sweeping result will work the greatest of all revolutions in Ameri- 

 can Horticulture. 



The exclusion of much material that now ordinarily graces the 

 homes, gardens, and greenhouses of the people who find a delight 

 in the beauties of growing plants, who enjoy a collection of rarities, 

 who feel that the American home and garden is entitled to the best 

 available material that the world contains — all of these will suddenly 

 be cut off from everything that is not already in the country. 



Is the plant lover and the enthusiastic amateur horticulturist 

 intending to stand by idly without getting at the facts ? The Society 

 of American Florists and the New England Nurserymen's Associa- 

 tion have organized for formal protest. Are the established 

 Garden Clubs, Horticultural Societies, and other institutions 

 that represent the "ultimate consumer" to stand idly by, and 

 thus tamely submit to being deprived of what they so much 

 desire? The published opinion of those who support the order is 

 taken frankly on the ground that it may protect an infant industry 

 or perhaps encourage another not yet born. 



The paragraph quoted from Plant Immigrants No. 143 plainly dis- 

 closes that the real purpose of this order is not a quarantine against 

 pests but to bring about a protection that is not possible through 

 tariff and legislation: "It will doubtless be the policy of the Federal 

 Horticultural Board to exclude these plant materials [Lilies, Hya- 

 cinths, Tulips, and other bulbs] when it would seem assured that the 

 commercial needs of the country can be met by home grown sup- 

 plies." 



If you are opposed to the order (Notice of Quarantine No. 37) becoming effective, write at once to your Congressman and urge that 



the whole affair be brought into the daylight. 



Where's the "Nigger" Lurking? 



To the Editor o/The Garden Macazine : — 



LJERE is a series of queries concerning the new 

 ■*■ ■*■ proposed quarantine on nursery stock, etc., 

 by the Federal Horticultural Board on and after 

 June 1, 1919, that it would be a real service to 

 have answered. Whether or not the Federal 

 Horticultural Board has overstepped its authority 

 is a mere legal angle of no present interest to me. 

 The florist and the nurseryman have my sym- 

 pathy in the exclusion of Box, Bay, etc., but I 

 have other troubles! 



The latest number of Plant Immigrants No. 143 

 March, 1918, Bureau of Plant Industry, Office of 

 Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, gives the 

 first definite details I have seen of the workings 

 of the act— hence my sudden curiosity. 



I ask of the citizens at large and those in au- 

 thority to explain to me the following: 



In what manner, for what reasons, and to what 

 purpose were the items of the three lists (admitted, 

 restricted, excluded) compiled? There seems to 

 be a large nigger well inside the woodpile. 



If it is a plant quarantine, how can seedlings and 

 cuttings of Roses, Apples, etc., be admitted, but 

 excluded in toto if united by process of budding 

 or grafting? If this is a quarantine against in- 

 jurious insects and diseases I need a new diction- 

 ary. 



To regulate or prohibit importation of 5-needle 

 Pines, or Orange stock from areas of Citrus dis- 

 eases has long been the work of the Board. But 

 why pounce on Box, Forsythia, or Deutzia, 

 etc. — when did they get diseased or insect-in- 

 fested ? I need a special advanced course in ento- 

 mology and fungi-ology. 



If to protect home nurseries, why not flat-foot 

 out and say so? Why the camouflage? The 

 nurseries howl against it; which ones secretly got 

 the Board started ? The deus ex machina is well 

 inside the machinery. Can a Federal Board 

 regulate a whole industry before it has that au- 

 thority from Congress? Is it a "war measure"? 



I thought we were to raise all the food we could 

 these years; even the nurseries plowed up good 

 shrub rows for potatoes. Should we concentrate 

 on Spiraea, Dicentra, and Scilla? 



61 



Is it just to the devastated industries of western 

 continental Europe to suddenly (June 1,1919) cut 

 off nearly wholly their horticultural trade with the 

 New World? Evidently an international ques- 

 tion for the Peace Conference. 



The Department of Agriculture can of course 

 import any of the excluded plants. Is Uncle 

 Sam going into the nursery business as a mono- 

 poly, or will members of Congress send out 

 Dorothy Perkins Roses in spring and Snowdrops 

 in fall to constituents, instead of seeds? Please 

 send me your share next summer of Calla Little 

 Gem. It is a plant I have long wanted, but no 

 dealers have it in stock, and they won't be able 

 to lay in a supply before June 1, 1919. 



But those are all academic questions. These 

 are my personal troubles: 



Last fall I patriotically bought Liberty Bonds 

 and postponed the planting of my hardy bulb 

 garden until more favorable times. Now I am 

 allowed to buy next fall all Lilies (Oh! joy!), Lily- 

 of-the-Valley, three species of Narcissus, Hya- 

 cinth, Tulips, and Crocus — but none others. 

 And Why? Are Scilla and Snowdrops Germanic, 



