February 21, 1903. 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
155 
FEBRUARY 21, 1903- ®he Gardening 'World. 
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EDITORIAL NOTES. 
he Pharmacy Act. 
The Departmental Committee appointed 
y the President of the Council to consider 
ehedule A to the Pharmacy Act, 1868, have 
ow made their report, which was published 
n Tuesday. The report is rather an exten- 
jve one, and much of it is of no interest to 
ardeners, but there are several recommendar 
ons contained in it which will undoubtedly 
iterest them and relieve their minds. As 
xe committee say in their report, it was not 
ossible for those responsible for the Phar- 
iacy Act of 1868 to see that the provisions 
iey had laid down would have interfered 
ith gardeners and farmers obtaining 
nsonous materials for use in their daily 
oik, or to understand that the carrying out 
those provisions would have enhanced the 
price of the materials by creating something 
in the nature of a monopoly. 
—o— 
Horticulture and Poisonous Materials. 
The committee, feeling convinced that hor¬ 
ticulture cannot be conducted effectively on 
modern plans without the extensive use of 
poisonous materials, went to considerable 
trouble to ascertain where undesirable con¬ 
ditions of sale had been caused by the pro¬ 
visions of the Pharmacy Act, and found, as, 
of course, they were bound to do, that in 
the latter, as it stands, certain poisons and 
poisonous materials used for horticultural 
purposes could not be legally retailed except 
by a registered chemist, and others retailing 
this laid themselves open to prosecution. 
Chemists and Druggists too far away- 
The committee report that inconvenience 
has been experienced by fanners and gar¬ 
deners owing to the restriction of the sale of 
poisonous material to> registered chemists 
and druggists in such districts where there 
is no such qualified tradesman within easy 
reach. Your committee are convinced that 
the inconvenience would have amounted to 
a veiy serious interference with legitimate 
industry had the provisions of the 15th sec¬ 
tion been universally put in effect. For ex¬ 
ample, in the Highlands and islands of Scot- 
land, where sheep-farming is the principal 
business of agriculture, farmers are some¬ 
times upwards of fifty miles distant from the 
nearest registered chemist and druggist, and 
the sale of sheep-dips is regularly carried on 
by ironmongers and other traders in contra¬ 
vention of the Statute. 
Mr. Henry Cannell gives Evidence. 
A nurseryman and florist in Kent g ive 
evidence as to the extreme inconvenience 
caused to cultivators when, owing to the suc¬ 
cessful prosecution of a firm of seedsmen, the 
sale of weed-killers and insecticides was dis¬ 
continued by nurserymen. He alleged that 
in horticulture there are numerous small 
cultivators and amateurs who would use 
these materials if they could get them, to 
the advantage of their greenhouses and 
gardens, but that chemists and druggists do 
not know what to recommend, whereas the 
nurserymen have knowledge of the proper- 
remedies and ought to be in a position to 
supply them. 
Suggested Alterations in Schedule A. 
Arsenic and its preparations, except any 
preparation prepared exclusively for use in 
connection with agriculture or horticulture 1 , 
and contained in a closed vessel or receptacle, 
distinctly labelled with the word “Poison,” 
the name and address of the seller, and a 
notice of the agricultural or horticultural pur¬ 
pose for which the preparation has been 
made. 
Alkaloids.—All poisonous vegetable alka¬ 
loids and their salts, and all poisonous de¬ 
rivatives of vegetable alkaloids, except pre¬ 
parations of tobacco, or the alkaloids of 
tobacco, prepared exclusively for use in con¬ 
nection with agriculture or horticulture, and 
contained in a closed vessel or receptacle dis¬ 
tinctly labelled with the word “Poison,” the 
name and address of the seller, and a notice 
of the agricultural or horticultural purpose 
for which the preparation has been made. 
They further recommend : 
Preparations containing arsenic ex¬ 
clusively for" use in connection with agricul¬ 
ture or horticulture, and contained in a closed 
vessel or receptacle distinctly labelled with 
the word “ Poison,” the name and address 
of the seller, and a notice of the agricultural 
or horticultural purpose for which the pre¬ 
paration has been made. 
Preparations of tobacco or the alkaloids of 
tobacco exclusively for use in connection with 
agriculture or horticulture and contained in 
a closed vessel or receptacle distinctly 
labelled with the word “ Poison,” the name 
and address of the seller, and a notice of the 
agricultural or horticultural purpose for 
which the preparation has been made. 
In Brief. 
To sum up, the committee find the agri¬ 
cultural and horticultural use of poisons is 
much too large to be restricted. If the trade 
.is for the chemists it becomes really a 
monopoly, because gardeners and others 
would have to pay about 20 per cent, more 
than by purchasing from manufacturers 
through their usual trade channels, and also- 
because in many places where these materials 
are used the chemist’s shop is a considerable 
distance off; indeed, in many cases, as far 
as twenty or thirty miles. But the com¬ 
mittee recommended that all those who sold 
poisons should be subject to a licence arid to 
the regulations made by the Privy Council. 
Arctic Houses in the Garden. 
We have heard a good deal lately of the 
forcing, retarding, refrigeration, and etherisa¬ 
tion of plants. The most recent suggestion 
seems to be that we should have arctic 
houses as well as hot houses. The idea is 
that by the use of a refrigerator or refrigerat¬ 
ing apparatus the plant house could be sur¬ 
rounded with ice and snow, so as to demon¬ 
strate the conditions under which alpine 
plants exist in their native mountain homes. 
We are afraid, however, that the idea will re¬ 
quire a little more cogitation before it could 
hatch out and a real live arctic house is the 
result. Alpine plants do not, as a rule, bloom 
when it is freezing, but, rather, when it is 
thawing, and the temperature must certainly 
be above freezing-point before the plants 
could come into bloom. 
