54 
Gardeners and Florists’ Annual for J9f8 
A bill providing for the inspection of mail shipment of horticul- 
tural and agricultural stock, at point of delivery at U. S. post offices, 
was introduced into Congress. 
* * * 
President Wilson, in his proclamation, said that German insur- 
ance companies operating in the United States would be permitted 
to continue business as before the declaration of war with Germany. 
This was done to protect the many American business firms who held 
insurance in German companies. However, regulations in force pre- 
vented any use of these funds for enemy use, without the permission 
of the Government. 
* * * , 
The United States Supreme Court upheld as constitutional the 
law of the State of Oregon fixing minimum wages for women. The 
Oregon State law limiting the hours of labor of men in mills, fac- 
tories and other manufacturing establishments was also held consti- 
tutional. 
* * * 
Commerce Reports stated that interest in the prevention and 
control of plant diseases was increasing in France, and that each 
year more French horticultural establishments were submitting to 
Government inspection. 
Three bills providing respectively for regulating the movement 
of seeds in interstate commerce, the appropriation of $5,000,000 for 
the immediate distribution of valuable seeds to farmers, and the ap- 
propriation of $^50,000 for the distribution before June 1 of seeds 
and shrubs, were introduced into Congress. The bill to prevent the 
sale or distribution of adulterated or misbranded seeds was rein- 
troduced into the House. 
« 4^ * 
A bill providing for an appropriation of $50,000 for a series of 
thorough and elaborate studies and experiments to perfect a system of 
frost prevention in the fruit growing sections of the Rocky Mountains 
was introduced into the House of Representatives. 
* ♦ * 
The Department of Commerce at Washington, D. C., received nu- 
merous inquiries from florists, nurserymen and seedsmen doing an import 
business as to whom they might trade with. The whole matter of trade 
relations was under consideration by an advisory committee represent- 
ing the departments of State, Commerce and Justice. 
* * * 
A bill was introduced into Congress providing for a census every 
five years of the products of various industries. This would make avail- 
able- valuable statistics in the florists’ trade. 
# 4e 4e 
The Massachusetts “blue laws” which forbade a man working in 
his garden on Sunday were repealed. 
* * * 
On April 18 the New Jersey State Department of Agriculture de- 
clared a quarantine against the White Pine blister rust. 
