136 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
soon as the intent of the law—that it is only meant to stop the 
spread of and stamp out disease was understood, it would be 
gladly and cheerfully complied with by every nurseryman who 
had the interest of his business at heart. 
ENTOMOLOGIST’S STATEMENT. 
W. G. Johnson, state entomologist of Maryland, issued a 
bulletin in October upon the subject of nursery stock, in which 
he stated that while inspecting the nurseries of the state he 
found that many nurserymen and dealers in nursery stock were 
not cognizant of the fact that the general assembly had passed 
a law providing for the suppression of disease and insect pests 
in nursery stock. Therefore he deemed it important to set 
forth in the bulletin the provisions of the law. 
Commenting upon the enforcement of the law, Professor 
Johnson says: “Every person within this state who has 
bought or contemplates buying nursery stock of any kind this 
fall or next spring should bear in mind the provisions of this 
act, and insist on a certificate of inspection covering each and 
every package. Especial attention should be paid to nursery 
stock coming from outside the state. The dangerous San Jose 
scale in nine-tenths of the infested districts of this state has 
been traced to trees coming from other states. Too much 
care cannot be taken in this matter, and if there is the least 
suspicion that the stock is not as represented, upon notifica¬ 
tion, I will proceed to the premises designated and make the 
necessary examination of the material in question.” 
FORM OF CERTIFICATE. 
“I have suggested” says Professor Johnson “that nursery¬ 
men of this state use the following, or a similar form of certifi¬ 
cate, on their shipping tags : 
.1896. 
I hereby certify that the trees or plants shipped to. 
County of.State of Maryland, have been duly 
examined by Prof. W. Gr. Johnson, State Entomologist, and pronounced 
by him as showing no indication of the presence of the San Jose scale, 
Peach Yellows, Rosette, or other dangerous insects or plant diseases 
that might be transferred on nursery stock from the nursery to the 
orchard or garden. 
Consignor. 
“Several nurserymen outside this state have made inquiry 
regarding the Maryland law, and have had their nurseries 
examined by entomologists, copies of whose certificate have 
been placed on file in this office. If for any reason a pur¬ 
chaser buying nursery stock direct from the nursery, or through 
some local or traveling agent, should doubt the authenticity of 
the certificate attached to such stock, the matter should be re¬ 
ferred to this office without delay. 
“ Nurserymen should be exceedingly careful about buying 
buds or stock of any kind from nurserymen outside this state. 
One instance has come to my notice this season where the San 
Jose scale was brought into this state on buds bought from a 
nursery firm in a neighboring state. This should be a signal 
of alarm to other firms, and extra care should be taken in 
handling stock from other nurseries for filling orders that can¬ 
not be supplied from home nurseries. 
“It must be understood that my ceitificate of inspection 
does not cover all the nursery stock handled by nurserymen 
and dealers in this state. Some nurserymen, who grow large 
quantities of small plants, such as stra vberries, advertise fruit 
trees, although none are growti by them. In such cases the 
stock should be covered by certificate, as provided by the law, 
before being accepted by the dealer ; otherwise he lays him¬ 
self liable to heavy fine if such stock is shipped in violation of 
this act.” 
CONDITION OF THE NURSERIES. 
“The nurseries of this state are, on the whole, in prime con¬ 
dition. In the various nurseries visited, representing nearly 
every section of the state, about 2,900,000 trees and vines have 
been inspected and the necessary certificates furnished the 
owners. The San Jose scale has been located in three nurseries, 
and in every case, so far as my final inspection shows has been 
completely destroyed. In two instances, about three thousand 
trees, including several old peach, pear and plum-trees in the 
immediate vicinity, infested by the same pest, were dug up 
and burned. Fortunately for the owners, the infested material 
was confined to blocks several miles from the stock to be 
placed on the market this fall and next spring. So far as a 
careful examination revealed, I could not find any traces of 
the scale on the other trees. In the third instance the scale 
was found on several trees in a one-year-old pear orchard, 
planted within a few rods of a large block of nursery stock, 
principally plum. All the infested trees were dug up and 
burned, and the others will be treated with the whale-oil soap 
wash this fall. All the nursery trees in the immediate block 
will be treated with hydrocyanic gas as soon as they are dug, 
thus insuring the destruction of any insect that might have 
escaped unnoticed. 
“ There need be no fear of getting the scale from nurseries 
in this state this fall or next spring, as every possible means 
for its extermination has been resorted to by the owners, and 
a very careful examination of the stock on my part“convinces 
me that the work has been successful. If nurserymen all over 
the country would take such an active part in the warfare 
against insect pests and plant diseases as have the nurserymen 
of this state the present season, I think it would be a compara¬ 
tively short time before we could successfully control these 
pests so tar as their distribution on nursery stock is con¬ 
cerned. 
“ The present wide-spread distribution of the scale over the 
state makes it practically impossible to say that a locality free 
this season, will be free from the pest next year. Nurserymen, 
therefore, must be alert and on the constant lookout for this 
prince of orchard pests, and take immediate steps for its sup¬ 
pression should it appear. In one instance, I found the scale 
this fall literally covering a lot of peach, pear and plum-trees 
less than a mile from a large nursery, where it has not been 
found. Every possible means are being tried to rid this region 
of the insect before it makes further progress in its distribution. 
The nurseryman himself has volunteered to uproot and burn 
all the infested trees in his neighborhood, prune and treat all 
suspicious ones with whale-oil soap, besides agreeing to replace 
all the uprooted trees with perfectly clean ones from his 
nurseries. 
NO YELLOWS ON STOCK. 
“ I have not found a single case of yellows on marketable 
stock within a nursery this season. In one place I discovered 
this disease in a peach orchard two years from the bud. The 
trees had been left in the block from which the stock was sold 
last season, and out of twenty-five trees, fully one-half had the 
yellows. I was told that the disease was very conspicuous 
early this season, and many of the badly infested trees had 
been cut down and burned. Fortunately, the owner had no 
