September is, 1890. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
279 
PROTECTION FOR THE ORIGINATORS OF NEW 
PLANTS. 
How the originators or introducers of new varieties of plants can be 
protected in what seems to be clearly their right to some special pro¬ 
prietorship of their productions is a subject that has often been discussed. 
At the late American Convention of Nurserymen the fact was 
emphasised that very few persons in this country who had originated 
valuable varieties of fruit had received any direct benefit from it. As 
an illustration it was stated that Mr. Worden, who brought out the 
Grape named after him, and which many people esteem, all things con¬ 
sidered, as the best black Grape grown in America, is now a poor 
man, and never made 500 dollars from this valuable introduction. If 
inventors are protected by law against the piracy of ideas which have 
cost them labour and study, it would seem just that a man should be 
able to reap some reward for.having brought out after much thought 
and experiment a new fruit which may add to the wealth and comfort 
of millions. 
Different plans for patenting plants have been often advocated, but 
the essential objection to them all was well stated by Professor Bailey 
more than a year ago as follows :—It is exceedingly doubtful if a 
patent could be secured for varieties which spring up from a chance 
seedling, and most of our varieties come in this way ; but if the patent 
were granted there are innumerable cases in which no jury of experts 
could agree concerning the distinctness of varieties.” Few cautious 
persons would be willing to swear to the identity of a given Straw¬ 
berry or Rose, and it would be difficult to prove in any given instance 
that the flower or fruit in question was not a new one closely resembling 
an older variety. 
Mr. A. L. Bancroft of California has also suggested a horticultural 
register wherein separate plants like Roses, Chrysanthemums, Ferns, 
Apples, Grapes could be kept and numbered on a system similar to that 
adopted in the various herd books where choice live stock is registered, 
but we then pointed out that a herd book was devised for a purpose 
quite distinct from those which it is proposed to secure by a system of 
plant registration. Individual animals are registered so that they may 
be identified, that their pedigree may be established, and that purity of 
blood may be maintained in a given breed or strain of live stock. In 
the case of plants, where the registration of one individual must stand 
for an entire class, and where the parentage is often unknown and 
always of secondary importance, it is difficult to see how such a list 
would prevent a duplication of names for the same plant or the selling of 
different plants under the same name. Mr. Bancroft’s scheme has been 
carefully elaborated since then, and a plan of registration has been 
adopted by the California State Horticultural Society. We have no 
space here to go into the details of the plan, but as it was discussed it 
seemed to the nurserymen in their convention that it was too cumber¬ 
some to be practical and effective. 
There is, however, considerable protection already given to the 
originator of a new fruit in the copyright law. Mr. Hoyt, of New 
Canaan, Connecticut, stated that he had taken out such a right on his 
label of the Green Mountain Grape, and had been instructed by eminent 
legal authority that no man could use this title on a label to a Grape Vine 
and sell it without his consent. It is true that if anyone should buy a 
plant of Mr. Hoyt he could propagate it as largely as he chose for his 
own use, or could sell the Vines under another name, but there would 
be little temptation to a grower to sell a really valuable variety under 
a name which would conceal its identity. The name is the very thing 
the plant-pirate most wants, and he often sells nothing else but the 
name of a good variety, attaching it to an entirely different plant from 
the one it really belongs to. This registered trade mark has proved 
of value too in preventing the sale of spurious plants under the 
label so registered, so that copyrighting assists in preventing the 
sale by unauthorised persons both of genuine plants and their 
counterfeits. 
It is hard to see how much greater protection than this can be 
secured by a horticultural register. The plan of registering new plants 
has, however, many merits in other directions. It would be of interest 
to have an accurate description of any new plant filed in some public 
office, with its portrait and parentage so far as known. We should like 
to compare a plant and berry of Hovey’s Seedling Strawberry as grown 
to-day with a preserved specimen of the original plant and its berry, 
or accurate portraits and descriptions of them, to see if any variation 
from the type had taken place. In questions of identity the register 
might give some assistance, but the inherent difficulties of accurate 
varietal description would remain. An organised effort to secure regis¬ 
tration would be of value, too, in enlisting the co-operation of all 
horticulturists to secure to originators their rights, for although no 
system yet devised can add much to the protection now given by the 
trade mark laws, this protection would be much more effective if it had 
an active and united public sentiment behind it. 
Of course this protection to the introducers of new plants would 
make such plants more expensive for a time, just as patented machinery 
and copyrighted literature is more expensive. But although this in¬ 
creased price might be considered a burden upon horticulture the 
advantages gained would be positive and important. Chief among 
these would be the encouragement offered to careful experiments in 
hybridising. When growers can feel sure that they will reap some 
reward from discoveries in this field we may entertain a reasonable 
hope that the breeding of plants may be reduced to something like a 
system or a science.— (A m erican Garden and Forest.) 
HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 
Apples. —These are ripening fast, and most of the earliest culinary 
varieties may safely be gathered and stored. The Codlin varieties have 
been much interfered with by blackbirds, and other comparatively soft 
varieties have suffered similarly—wasps finishing what the birds begun. 
It is therefore a relief to find the seeds of any variety of Apples, either 
culinary or dessert, browned, as then the time has arrived for gathering 
and storing. If this stage of ripening i3 anticipated—that is to say, if 
the fruit is gathered before the seed is browned, it will keep badly, 
shrivelling being the sure consequence. All ought to be very carefully 
handled, as they bruise easily, and none but the sound fruit should be 
given the best positions in the fruit room, the rest being either put on 
one side for present use or converted into cider. 
Pears. —It is the wall trees that are principally furnished with 
fairly good crops of fruit this season, and as these can be easily covered 
with nets there is even less excuse for gathering the fruit before it is 
fit. As a rule such varieties as Williams’ Bon Chretien, Victoria, 
Beurrff d’Amanlis, Doyenne Boussoch, Louise Bonne of Jersey, 
Gansel’s Bergamot, Pitmaston Duchess, Fondante d’Automne, and 
Comte de Lamy are ripening even earlier than usual, and early storing 
may in these cases be resorted to. On no account, however, should 
Doyenne du Comice, Marie Louise, Beurre Clairgeau, Beurr6 Diel, and 
other varieties that are generally fit to eat in November or thereabouts 
be dragged from the tree prematurely, or their quality will be impaired 
thereby. It would be a still greater blunder to gather Josephine de 
Malines, Glou Morpeau, Winter Nelis, Madame Millet, Ollivier de 
Serres, and Nec Plus Meuris before they either part from the tree freely 
when lifted out of their natural positions or the seeds are nearly or 
quite brown. These late varieties if gathered before they are ready 
inevitably shrivel badly and are never fit to eat. 
Storing Apples and Pears. —It is not often there are extra large 
quantities of dessert Apples to store, but those who fortunately are 
somewhat favoured in this respect should take good care of the fruit, as 
it will be valuable this season. There is no necessity to store them very 
thinly, but they ought to have a clean sweet position, where no cold 
currents of air can reach them, and where they can readily be protected 
from severe frosts. The fruit really keeps longer and plumper when 
stored in deep boxes and hampers, and this plan of storing is especially 
to be commended where there is no fruit room proper. The less 
valuable culinary varieties may be stored in heaps and covered first 
with straw and then about 6 inches of soil, or much as Potatoes are 
pitted. Thus treated they keep surprisingly well, but the quality is 
never so good as when they are kept in a dry cool room or shed. Pears 
both keep well and ripen beautifully in drawers located in a cool dry 
room, or they may be stored in shallow boxes in single layers stalk end 
uppermost. If there is a fruit room well fitted with latticed shelves 
storing and keeping Pears is a comparatively simple matter, and if each 
sort is kept separate and duly labelled the owner’s visits to the fruit 
room will in many instances be more pleasurable. A dry heat is 
objectionable, and the other extreme, cold and damp, must also be 
guarded against. If the temperature of the room seldom exceeds 55°, 
and rarely falls below 40°, the fruit will keep well, and if more heat is 
required to ripen Pears these should be moved to a warm house or 
kitchen according as they are required, this being the best method of 
bringing out their true flavour and of prolonging the season of each 
variety. 
Renovating Fruit Trees. —Once more the time has arrived when 
work of this description may safely be taken in hand. Those trees stand¬ 
ing most in need of this renovation, and which well repay for the 
trouble taken, are fine old wall Pears, Peaches, Nectarines, Apricots, 
Morello Cherries, and in a lesser degree Plums. When the roots have 
gone from the surface down into an uncongenial subsoil the health of 
the tree is greatly impaired, and the quality of the fruit, if any, is also 
much inferior to what it should be. Undermining the tree, cutting the 
deep running roots, bringing all those reserved much nearer the surface, 
and relaying in fresh loamy compost, soon alters the character of the tree 
for the better, and in most instances answers more satisfactorily than 
destroying old trees and planting new ones. The work should be done 
thoroughly, but not in a reckless manner. It is also wiser to extend the 
operation over two seasons, one half of the roots being done at a time, 
as to completely lift and prune the roots of a large tree at a single 
operation might lead to its being so badly crippl ed as not to recover 
from the check for several years, if ever. Supposi ng a large Pear tree 
is to be operated on, a trench about 2 feet wide, and as much, or rather 
more, in depth, according to the nature of the gro und, should be cut at 
about 9 feet from the stem, and only half way rou nd. Next gradually 
fork away the soil from the roots, and to within abo ut 3 feet of the stem, 
from which distance the tree could be quite underm ined without disturb¬ 
ing the ball of soil about the stem. All large deep ru nning roots should be 
cut or sawn cleanly through, and those more plia ble, after having all 
broken ends cut off and bruised pieces cut away, c an then be relaid in 
nearly, or quite all, fresh soil. A little partially deca yed manure or old 
