June 15, 1912. 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



455 



cer- 



it 



INSPECTION OF NURSERY 

 STOCK IN HOLLAND. 



In the cour.ve of liis paper, read at tthe 

 International Conference on Legislation in 

 connection with Insect Pests and Plant 

 Diseases, Professor Ritzema Bos gave the fol- 

 lowing particulars of the method adopted in 

 Holland for the inspection of nursery stock. 



In no other way, he siaid, could tJie import 

 of disease^ from aibroiad be prevented mare 

 successfulily than by efficient ins,pection oif 

 the st^ock executed an tllie country where it 

 has grown. But tthiiis inspection only can 

 give wihat reas'onatbi'y can be required o(f it — 

 a guaraniteo for tJie healfh of the sitock 

 when a weM-equi'pped Phyftapathological 

 vice exists in the country fr^an wiiiich 

 comes. I hope to convince you iol the triutih 

 of tihis opinion iby telling you something of 

 the work of the Phytopiatihological Service 

 in Holland, especially of tlhat ibrancli c.f it 

 ■vs^iclh takes care of the exjport nurseries. 



All nurseries in Holland where stock is 

 grown ^ direct'ly or indirectly destined for 

 export, are inspected several times a year 

 by a local insipec'tor. Wlien some pest is 

 found tlie infected plants or trees are re- 

 moved and deistroyed, or, if possible, they 

 are disinfected or cured (by an efficient treat- 

 ment. The resulitis of the treatmeuit aire at- 

 tended to 'by the inspector at settled times. 

 In thug way. for insta'uce, Phytoptus, Ajley- 

 rodes, and the galls of Exo»baisidium are 

 dealt with on Azalea indica, Tingis on r'ho- 

 dodendron, Poridermiuim Strctbi on Pinus 

 vStrobus, Mytilaspis pomorum on Buxus. 

 Of course, a complete record of the occurrence 

 of pegts and the results of treatment i:s' kept 

 by the inspector, and a copy of it is sent to 

 the Ohdei of the PhytopathoLogical Service. 



In the seias on of shipim e n t th e i nspector 

 regularly goes to the sheds of tlhe nursery 

 tradesmen, wihere the stock from their own 

 grounds is ibrou,gtht together with stock of 

 otih e r nurserymen who do n ot ti-ad e to 

 foreign countries, but only apply themselves 

 to nursery work. Now the inspector can 

 find — reasonably speaking — every fungUs or 

 insect attack w'hioh mig^ht be overlooked at 

 the nursery insipection ; moreover, he now 

 finds root diiseasies^ for instance, root and 

 crown galls. He removcg all that is not 

 perfectly healthy, and he sends a record of 

 the inspection of eadh shipment to the Chief 

 of the Pliytcpathologiical Service. The 

 nursery-tradesman in h.Ls turn sends the cor- 

 responding cert.ificaiej on whacJi mention is 

 made of the contents and other particulars of 

 the siiipment to the Ciliief of the Service to 

 have it stamped and countersigned. The 

 Chief of the Service compares tiie istatement 

 of the nu;rseryman with the record of the 

 inspector, and wihen it is oibvious that t;he 

 stock is in good condition he .authenticates 

 the certificate hj his written signature and 

 pfficiaJ stamp, and ihe returns it to the in- 

 pector. Mind what I say : not to the nur- 

 seryman, but to the inspector. For it might 

 be that some siigQit difference is found be- 

 tween tilie statement of the nurser^^man and 

 the inspector's record, or tlitat the nursery- 

 man packs other stock in the boxes than 

 what 1ms been inspected, and now the in- 

 -"^jDector has the occasiion to control another 

 time if it is all right. When notdiimg is 

 wrong he gives the preoious document, and 

 now the boxes "i^n })e closed and expedited. 



Of course, all beginnings are difficult, and 

 so too, our earliest efforts were sometimes 

 unsatisfactory, but each vear rendei^ our 

 certificates of health more" reliaible, and the 

 n u rsery me n gr adu al 1 v take more ca re 

 th a t no act of th ei rs sha 1 1 de tract 

 rrom its reliaib'lity. Of course, even bv 

 the arrangement sketched, the possibility 

 |s not quite excluded that .some pest may be 

 trans^ported from Dutcli nurseries to foreign 

 countries. Insipectors are human; they may 

 sometimes overlook an insect or a fungus at- 



'Absolute freedom never can l>e certi- 

 hed, but v^e may say, reasiona-bly speaking, 

 that the possibility of transport of peats 

 irom our nurseries is an extremely small 

 one. Mr TToward (the renowned entomolo- 

 frist of tlu^ American Department of Agricul- 



ture), Mr. Wa^iliiburn (State entomologist of 

 Minnesota), and other American authorities 

 assure ns tha^t tlie certificates of our Phyto- 

 pathological Service are reliable, and iJiey 

 greatly a*ppreciate our method of working. 



According to the authorities just men- 

 tioned, the same cannot be declared of the 

 certificates of liealtli delivered in several 

 other European countries. Tlierefcre coun- 

 tries ^vhicii imjK)rt stock are cautioned 

 against putting too mudli confidence in 

 these papers, and may be advised to combine 

 an inspection at the port of entry wLtth the 

 claim for a health certificate. \Ve liave al- 

 ready seen that the mere inspection at the 

 port of entry will not gnive the desired war- 

 rant; nor need it he rcipeaited that it is im- 

 practicable to examine the imported stock 

 with sufficient accuracy. But 'by conibining 

 the claim for a certificate witili tlie inspection 

 at the port of entry a country bids fair to 

 succeed in holding out of doors all pests 

 whiiich can ibe imported by sliipment of nur- 

 siery stock. ITie fact that the nurserymen in 

 the country of export are aware of their stock 

 'being inspected will aid in making them 

 careful in regard of its state of Jiealth. 



Oi course, the inspecitors <at the port or 

 landing can make allowance for the nature 

 of the stock and for the coimtrv from wliich 

 at comes. 'For instance, when it comes from 

 a country ith an excellently organised Phy- 

 tcpathoio;gical Service ihe inspection needs 

 not to Ibe done with equal carefulness as 

 when it comes from a country with a seem- 

 ing Service. When -a shipment consists in 

 part of a species of plant, which may be the 

 bearer of a very dangerou® 'pest, the intro- 

 duction of which should Ibe proliibited at 

 any cost, a very cose inspection of the stock 

 belonging to this species is required, while 

 the inspection of the other stock of fhe shi}>- 

 ment, say, perennials or ornamental shrubs, 

 can be executed less punctiliously. 



The nursery stock is expedited late in 

 autumn or early in spring — ^anyhow a season 

 in wihich the frost miay set in suddenly. To 

 prevent possible damiatge by (frost, it is neces- 

 sary that the stock should not stay too long 

 unpacked on the port of entry in beiialf of 

 the inspection. Of course, lots of work are 

 to be done by ithe import -inspect ion Service, 

 and care cannot always be taken to have the 

 boxes ojjened, inspected, and closed in a 

 short time. This is quite obvious to those 

 who know the husiiness in the seiason of 

 sh'ipment and have a notion of the enormous 

 quantities of trees and slirube wihicih by arti- 

 ficial means are pressed and tied together 

 and packed in bales and boxes. So the bring- 

 ing of the contents after inspection in its 

 former condition being almosit an impossi- 

 bility, it might occur that some stock on 

 its f-urtilier expedition to the consignee is 

 injured by frost. This trouble m'ay be pre- 

 vented by putting the inspection off till the 

 cases have arrived at the place of their des- 

 tination. So, in fact, the inspections of im- 

 ported stock are executed in several of the 

 United States of America. 



In conclusion, summing u,p all our arg-u- 

 ments, it may toe stated th^it the best war- 

 rant againsit the importation of plant 

 diseases and injurious animals is given by 

 the comibination of two measures: First, cer- 

 tificates of health, dejivered by the 'State 

 phytopathologist of the counitry of origin, 

 are to l>e required for each imported consigiu 

 ment; secondly, inspection and, if need be, 

 disinfection, is to Ibe executed il>efore the 

 consignments are accepted by the consignee. 



Only in very exceptional cases prohibition 

 of nmportation is to be adopted as a mothcd 

 of preventing the introduction of pests; but 

 this method is not at all to be relied upon as 

 a never-failing expedient. 



Salvia splendens.— AVhereas the 

 typical Salvia splendens used to be regarded 

 solely as an autumn-fiowering subject, some 

 of tfie improved forms may be had in bloom 

 quite early; in fact, flowering examples are 

 now often met with in the spring. Owing 

 to this they are now largely used for summer 

 bedding when they vie in colour with the 

 brightest of the pelargoniums. — W. 



WORK FOR THE WEEK. 



CONSERVATORY AND GREEN- 

 HOUSE. 



GREiENHOU'.SE CLrMBEHS.— Many of our 

 most beautiful plants are good climbers and 

 wJien allowed to roam at will over the ra^ters^ 

 up the pillars, an d on the biick walls, produce 



a prodigious amount ol bloom, and present 

 a charming effect in any large greenhouse, 

 conservatory, or winter garden. I would 

 advise that these be planted out whenever 

 practicable in suitable soils prepared for each 

 s u b j ect . 



BOUGAINVILLEAS. — These are very 

 strong growers, and do splendidly against 

 a back wall or trained up a pillar and allowed 

 to ramible over the rafters or trellLs. 13ou- 

 gtaiiivilleas are generally classed as stove 

 plants, ibut they will do equally as well in 

 a conservatory or corridor. In fact, I get 

 better results from plants grown in a large 

 conservatory than trom those grown in a 

 stove. Tiiey like an open compost^ and the 

 material from a Iniilder's rubbish heap suits 

 them well, and they simply revel in it. A 

 hole should 'be taken out -ift. square and 

 3ft. deep; and af tlie lM)ttom place brick- 

 bats and mortar rubble, putting one foot 

 of sandy comport on the top. When the 

 plant is e»tahlished the strong shoots should 

 be encouraged to go to the top of the house. 

 At the present time the plants are just com- 

 ing into bloom ; the weak sJioots should he 

 cut out, and the strong ibranclies allowed to 

 droop as these are most effective when covered 

 with bloom four or five feet of their length. 

 The best to grow are B. glahra, B. Maud 

 Chettle'burgh and tlie n^nv salmon variety 

 B. Rosa Catalina. 



STREPT080Li:\ J A M i:-i)NI. — This 

 climber is at present at its best, the trusses 

 of gorgeous orange blooms making a mass of 

 colour on the back wall of the conservatory 

 here. Those who liave only seen this grown 

 as small bushes in pots cannot imagine how 

 lovely it is when grown freely. It needs a 

 rich compost, and when planted out makes 

 strong growth, and it will then produce a 

 succession of bloom for six months out of 

 the twelve. It also does well in pots when 

 disbudded to one or three growths. 



LAPAGERIAS. 



'hese 



jects, 'both the white and rose forms being 

 much prized. These plants do best trained 

 up centre pillars. It is best to build brick 

 pits to accommodate them, and the compost 

 should consist of two parts peat, one part 

 loam, and one part coarse sand, over good 

 drainage. Slugs are very fond of the young 

 shoots, and a strict watoli must be kept for 



them. 



BIGNONIAS AND TI-COMAS. 



These 



are all suitahle for covering the roofs and 

 rafters; they grow and luxuriate in a sandy 

 compost when planted out. Slu^aves of bloom 

 can be gathered from them when they are 

 well established. 



CLEMATIS INDIVISA LOB ATA. —'Hi is is 

 the only member of the fam ly worth grow- 

 ing inside, but when trained on I tie roof and 

 kept restricted, its white ropes of flower are 

 very eftVctive. 'U thin shoots should now 

 be cut away, the strong ones only ^being left. 



JAS^MINIUM GRAN^DIFLORUM. — lliis 

 ja-sminum lis very chaste, and when planted 

 out in a centre 'hed and allowed to ramble 

 on the roo", it will flcwer a^buudantly. its 

 large, starry, white flowers being very effec- 

 tive and deliciously fragrant. When cut and 

 placed in small vases a suece-sion of bloom 

 appears which keeps the vases effective for 

 several days. l%is climiber is best increased 

 by layerings 



TAOONIA^:.— These are rapid climbers, 

 and they will all do well if plantiMl out in 

 (beds of fibrous loam and peat. If allowed to 

 ramble they s(x>n cover a large space, and 

 their large flowers hanging suspended from 

 the growths always command attention. Tac- 

 sonias root readily if side shoots are placed 

 in a sandv compost. There are many more. 



