THE EDnOR'S OUTLOOK. 



485 



drawn up specific bills for presentation to Congress. 

 In the meantime. The Rural Publishing Company 

 had the matter under advisement, and it drew up a 

 definite plan in the form of a bill. This plan adds 

 features which have not been made sufficiently 

 prominent before, particularly the official enlist- 

 ment of the experiment stations in the work. A 

 California contemporary has charged us with 

 plagiarism, but our plan is an entirely independent 

 and original one. It is the out growth, as is prob- 

 ably the California scheme as well, of the older 

 agitations upon this subject. If it is necessary 

 that Congress should enact a law to protect plants- 

 men, we submit our outline as the most practi- 

 cable one which has yet been given to the public. 

 But we do not wish to press our measure at the 

 expense of others. We understand that united 

 action is necessary in order to carry any measure, 

 and we are willing to add our influence to the best 

 venture, wherever it originates. 



Others look upon Congressional enactment as 

 unnecessary and superfluous, and build their faith 

 upon the protection accorded to trade-marks. The 

 first definite and public elucidation of this idea 



appears elsewhere in this issue. (See page 481.) 



In connection with the protection idea, there has 

 lately arisen a scheme to make a general register 

 of plants, not unlike the herd-books in principle. 

 This is the redeeming feature of Mr. Bancroft's 

 scheme, and we have copied it into o'ur own meas- 

 ure. Mr. Bancroft's proposition is too heavy to be 

 practicable, however, but this fault will no doubt be 

 corrected by those who have it in charge. An in 

 dependent" plan of registration has been under- 

 taken by Professor Bailey in his "Annals of Horti- 

 culture." This undertaking was wrought out last 

 year, and the manuscript of it was in the printer's 

 hands long before the western scheme had been 

 given to the world. It is the first actual result 

 which has yet been reached looking towards the 

 protection of plantsmen. This looks toward a reg- 

 istration which shall include the nation, and it was 

 undertaken because there seemed no other way. 

 But Mr. Bancroft's scheme is perhaps bolder, and 

 if it could be carried out, would be better. 



Out of the various ideas which will be presented, 

 a practicable venture must arise ; with the best one 

 we shall cast our lot. 



'E SHOULD hke to write 

 a book upon the philo- 

 sophy of hoeing ! This 

 desire is stimulated by the fact 

 that not one workman out of 

 ten knows how to hoe : and perhaps this statement 

 would fit gardeners themselves as well. The very 

 first requisite to good hoeing is an adequate know- 

 ledge of why we hoe. Over in the pumpkin field a 

 man is hoeing now — or chopping rather — who has 

 thrown off his hat, unbuttoned his shirt, rolled up 

 his sleeves, and who is sweating like a water-cooler 

 in a " muggy " day. At every cHp he raises his hoe 

 nearly to the top of his head, and he brings it 

 down with a whiz, regardless of stones and almost 

 regardless of place. The first half day he shivered 

 up his hoe blade. This man believes in muscle in 

 hoeing, if he believes in anything at all. He chops 

 here and there, and leaves the ground lumpy and 

 uneven. He always winds up his day's work with 

 the feeling that he has earned his money because he 



has sweat so much ! No use to show him a differ- 

 ent way ; as soon as you are out of sight he is ham- 

 mering away again ! His forte is a grub hoe and a 

 thistle patch. 



There in the berry patch is another man with a 

 hoe. He has weeds in his eye, and his hoe never 

 touches the ground where there are no weeds. 

 This is the most fatal of all mistakes, for it indi- 

 cates that the man has not conceived of the very 

 first principles of hoeing. However ignorant our 

 ancestors may have been — and our neighbors still 

 are ! — a man should know that wherever good work 

 is expected hoeing means cultivating, not onlj' 

 weed- killing. So, after every weed is taken out of 

 our berry patch we shall still need to hoc it. 



Among the egg-plants is still another man with a 

 hoe. He works easily and appears to do his work 

 well. But watch him an instant. He skints the 

 surface just as our mothers used to skim milk. 

 He catches every weed and tickles the entire sur- 

 face of the ground, but he is not hoeing — he is 



