SLB R 



onize public sympathy and spirit, and jeopardize 

 the very existence of the fair. Wherever the site 

 may be selected between the waters of the great 

 oceans, we trust horticulture and landscape art will 

 be upheld, and not disfigured and ravished. We 

 shall direct our own efforts to their advancement 

 and honor, and believe that the majority of people 

 are with us. 



* 



TT ND THE purchase or propagation and dis- 

 L*A tribution of trees, plants, shrubs, vines 

 and cuttings shall be confined to such as 

 are adapted to general cultivation, and to promote 

 the general interest of horticulture and agriculture 

 throughout the United States." Why does it hap- 

 pen that the clause of the national law authorizing 

 the purchase and distribution of plants has never 

 been acted, upon ? Why have the energies of the 

 Department of Agriculture been devoted entirely 

 to the distribution of seeds ? Is it because seeds 

 are more easily kept and handled, and are there- 

 fore handier for the use of the politician ? It would 

 seem so. Perhaps the department can exercise 

 little influence over the two-thirds and more of its 

 seeds which are used for political purposes, but the 

 remaming third of its energies in this direction it 

 should be able to control. If every administration 

 is anxious to improve the seed-shop, why have not 

 plants been substituted in part for seeds ? To be 

 sure, if plants were distributed upon the same 

 basis as the seeds are, little good could be expected ; 

 but plants themselves give some indication of what 

 they are, and the stale ones could hardly be sent 

 out. And it is certainly true that if such an inno- 

 vation were to occur in the practices of the depart- 

 ment, people would at once suppose that reform 

 had begun. The present evil is so thoroughly dyed 

 into the sentiments of the people that reform must 

 be radical if it makes any impression. It may be 

 be said that the Division of Gardens and Grounds 

 distributes plants. But it does so with other funds 

 than those appropriated for the purchase of seeds 

 and plants ; and we have yet to learn that this di- 

 vision has made any impression upon the country. 



We are confident that if the department were to 

 follow the law, and distribute such things as are 

 "rare and uncommon," there would be no objec- 

 tions on the part of seedsmen ^nd nurserymen. 

 Such a course would benefit these people at the 

 same time that it might add greatly to the good of 

 agriculture in general. We do not want the law 

 repealed nor modified. We only want its spirit 

 followed. 



OS. 4. 297 



T~\OLITICS in horticulture," would seem an 

 appropriate caption for an account of the 

 controversy going on over the McKinley 

 bill, at this writing pending in Congress. The bill 

 provides for an increase of customs duty on certain 

 bulbs, plants, etc. , grown over the water. Among 

 those enumerated are roses, spira;as, orchids, palms 

 and lily of the valley. Politics crop out most strong- 

 ly in the discussion of the subject in the horticul- 

 tural press, and especially in the "trade" journals. 

 On general political principles, the Republicans de- 

 sire that the bill be passed, and the Democrats wish 

 to defeat it. The American Garden is a mugwump, 

 in so far that it desires the best thing for the great- 

 est number, and, on those grounds it seems to us that 

 an increase of duty on the plants, etc., named, or in- 

 deed (Tiiv duty, is contrary to the best interests of 

 not only the " trade," but the vast army of planters 

 all over our country. Especially does this view of 

 the ([uestion seem logical when it is considered that 

 nearly all of the plants on which it is proposed to 

 increase the duty are species which cannot be prop- 

 agated with the best success in this country. It is 

 hardly fair that we should be made to pay a prem- 

 ium on iiur love for the beauty of nature, more es- 

 pecially when the duty "protects" no one who 

 needs protection, injures only those who are broad 

 enough to spend money for beauty in flowers or 

 plants, and adds to the troublesome "surplus" 

 which is the nightmare of our statesmen — many of 

 whom might want to turn the surplus toward their 

 pockets, but for fear of the people ! From a 

 practical standpoint, we feel that the "trade" will 

 agree with us that when the foreign-grown stock 

 is put in competition with that of the same quality 

 produced in our own country, the latter is given the 

 preference by nine planters out of ten, even though 

 the foreign-grown stock is offered at a lower price, 

 which it is not, as a rule. Why we need protection 

 from the products of growers with whom we are 

 denied competition by the climatic influences of our 

 country, is beyond our comprehension. It would 

 seem more to the point if the tree, plant and seed 

 trades of this country would look more to the better- 

 ment of our indigenous species, and the introduction 

 into our country of the best species of other coun- 

 tries, all of which will tend toward the birth and 

 growth of a higher horticulture. Put the question 

 at issue fairly before the people, and the answer 

 will be, first, no increase of duties on trees and 

 plants, and then the advocacy of the abolition of 

 all tariffs and entanglements which tend to hinder 

 us in advancement toward tlie station in the world 

 our nation is entitled to. 



