58 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
PLEA OF THE OR1GUSATOR. 
Jacob Moore, of Brighton Grape Fame, Appeals to Governor Theo 
dorc Roosevelt—Asks Protection of Law or a Share of Appro¬ 
priation—Is Holding Back Far More Valuable Varieties, 
He Says—First Sales Not Remunerative. 
We have called attention heretofore to the claims of Jacob 
Moore, of Rochester, the originator of the Brighton grape and 
other well known varieties of fruit. We are aware that the 
consensus of opinion is that, in the nature of things, it is diffi¬ 
cult, if not impossible, to provide the protection for which he 
argues. But the case of E. W. Bull, the originator of the Con¬ 
cord grape* and other originators of fruits, has appealed to the 
generosity of nurserymen; and the frequency with which the 
subject is brought up by the nurserymen themselves shows 
that the force of the originators’ claim is felt. Luther Bur¬ 
bank, T. V. Munson and others have succeeded in making the 
work of the specialist profitable. Mr. Moore says that he is a 
specialist without the necessary equipment, and that a demand 
for a new variety must be created by costly advertising and is 
hazardous with free competition to supply the demand. The 
question may be fairly asked, therefore, What inducement is 
there for a man, who has not the necessary means, to seek to 
originate new varieties ? Mr. Moore, in his communication to 
Governor Theodore Roosevelt upon this subject, says : 
In reading your excellent message to the legislature I was deeply 
impressed by your recommendation for the more rigid enforcement of 
the laws protecting the fish and game of the wilderness. Your care for 
the lower orders of creation, together with the fact that you are one of 
the board of control of the State Experiment Station, hrs emboldened 
me to present my claims for the protection of law or for a share of the 
appropriation given the said Experiment Station. While my produc¬ 
tions have become.popular I have not been remunerated for their intro¬ 
duction because without any exclusive rights to them, being practically 
in the condition of an author without the protection of copyright or an 
inventor without a patent. For the same reason I am powerless to 
prevent the practice of falsely labelling plants of other varieties with 
the names of my own, whereby planters are defrauded. The experi¬ 
ments at the station are recompensed by the state while I am left to be 
despoiled of the pecuniary results of my labors by the nurserymen. 
The existing law does not reach false labellers. It should be made a 
misdemeanor to attach a false label with intent to defraud, whereas it 
is a question of damages. 
What have the experimenters at the station done for the benefit of 
the people surpassing the production of the Brighton and Moore’s Dia. 
mond grapes, Barseckle pear and other fruits of my origination ? 
These varieties were the result of scientific cross-breeding, and I had 
to devote the best years of my life to the work of producing them, 
otherwise I could not have succeeded in it. While I have had a mon. 
opoly of forty years of expense in experimenting for their production, 
it is not strange that I have failed to secure compensation with free 
competition in the introduction and sale. 
I have far more valuable varieties than those I have mentioned, 
but I see no way to obtain remuneration for them without legal protec¬ 
tion from the trade. Like most others of my class I am a specialist 
without the necossary equipment of the nurseryman for handling the 
sto k and making sales of a new variety. I have been denied any 
terms of introduction even approximating fairness by nursery firms 
having many agents, notwithstanding the fact of having received the 
highest award at the World’s Fair for the new fruit I wished them to 
introduce. It was entirely in their power to give me such a percent¬ 
age of sales for a term of years as would compensate me while allow¬ 
ing themselves an ample profit, but practically they wanted I should 
make them a gift of my production. 
A demand for a new variety introduced by a nurseryman having a 
small retail trade must be created by costly advertising and is hazard¬ 
ous with free competition to supply the demand and false labellers in 
the background to curtail the sales of the genuine variety. He must 
depend upon the wholesale price of the stock, which, unlike the retail 
price, may drop suddenly, owing to fictitious competitions by means of 
the false label competition of other propagators, or both together. The 
usual attempt to secure compensation from the first sales alone nearly 
always fails, afterward the variety is the common property of the 
trade, when the introducer’s opportunity for profit is gone forever. For 
trial at the Experiment Station at present there is no safeguard except 
the word of the director, who is often changed. Nor can I have any 
security that my productions will not be stolen from my own premises 
because they must necessarily be grown out of doors where cuttings 
can be easily stolen. New varieties have been frequently disseminated 
in that way. 
Taking into account the fact that the opportunity to i^munerate 
myself has been withheld, ought not the state to compensate me ? 
Considering the important additions my productions have made to its 
real wealth and that they have contributed to the health, sustenance 
and enjoyment of its numerous population, I think that at least $5,000 
should be paid to me out of the state treasury. That society in a bar¬ 
barous condition should fail to reward the originators of valuable food 
products may not excite surprise, but that the representatives of a 
civilized, enlightened Christian people should fail to do so while sub¬ 
sisting on its products.and turn them out to graze like Nebuchadnezzar 
or send them to the poor house in their old age, is without excuse. 
The originator of the Concord grape, failing to obtain by its intro¬ 
duction a portion of the wealth he created, passed his last years in a 
charitable institution. It strikes me, and I think it must strike you, 
that the treatment he received for material services of priceless value 
to his country, is a national disgrace. Should not the people ot Massa 
chusetts, or of the United States, have paid him for the food he fur 
nished them ? Relying upon your willingness to promote equity and 
mete out justice to evil doers I have endeavored to disclose to you in 
this letter'the facts regarding the work of improving the products of 
the soil. 
The producers of new varieties are unanimous in declaring it to be 
unremunerative. The state of Minnesota rewarded Peter Gideon, its 
well known originator of hardy apple hybrids. Will not the Empire 
Slate be equally just to me ? 
Governor Roosevelt referred Mr. Moore to the State Com¬ 
missioner of Agriculture, who in turn referred him to his sen¬ 
ator or assemblyman. And now Mr. Moore says: 
I commenced my labors in fruit origination in this vicinity, when a 
youth, where I have lived the greater part of my life. I believe I am 
the only resident of Rochester who has produced new fruits which 
have attained national popularity notwithstanding the fact that this 
place has been the emporium of the nursery business in this country. 
I included my experiments in the cross-fertilization of plants years 
ago for evident reasons and shall never resume them without such ex¬ 
clusive right to use the names of my productions in the dissemination 
and sale as will enable me to protect the public. Of course, such ex¬ 
clusive right must be conferred by Congress. 
CANADIANS EXTEND TIME. 
By the amendment to the San Jose Scale Act, the time for 
the admission of fumigated trees from the United States ex¬ 
pired at 12 o’clock on the night of April 30th. Trees not in 
the country by that time were not to be admitted. 
N. B. Colcock, customs broker, on that date wired the 
Minister of Agriculture that several shipments were on the 
road, the weather was cool, the stock was in good condition, 
and asked if the time for admission could be extended for a 
few days. 
On the morning of May 1st the minister wired Manager 
Black of the fumigating station extending the time for the 
admission of stock from the states, at owner’s risk, for two 
weeks. The station therefore remained open until May 15th. 
