THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
I 2 I 
NURSERY STOCK INTERCEPTED. 
The Baltimore American of October 27th says : “State En¬ 
tomologist \V. G. Johnson intercepted two lots of fruit trees in 
this city on Tuesday. They were from C. W. Stuart & Co., a 
New York nursery firm ; and were consigned to B. F. Spedden; 
of Cambridge, and T. J. Seward, of Cornersville. 
“ ‘ They were shipped into this state,’ said Professor Johnson 
yesterday, 1 in violation of our law requiring a certificate of 
inspection to be attached to each and every package, showing 
that it is apparently free from dangerously injurious insects» 
and plant disease. The General Agent of the United States 
Express Company in Baltimore was notified of this shipment 
of nursery stock, and the trees are now held in Cambridge, 
and cannot be delivered under a penalty of not less than $ro, 
nor more than $100 for each package. Unless the nursery 
firm shipping the stock can furnish us a satisfactory certificate 
the trees will be returned at the owners’ expense or burned. 
“ ‘ We are also holding another consignment of stock at Hills 
Point, in Dorchester county. It is our purpose strictly to en¬ 
force this section of our law, and nurserymen have been duly 
warned. If they ship uncertified trees into this state they 
must abide by the consequences. Our own nurserymen have 
submitted their premises to rigid inspection, and all of them 
have erected fumigating houses, as an additional protection 
against insects of a dangerous nature, in accordance with our 
law. 
“ ‘We have sent posters to all postofifices and railroad offices, 
calling the attention of agents of transportation companies to 
that portion of our law covering nursery stock coming from 
other states. Any agent or person delivering stock not prop¬ 
erly certified lays himself liable to a fine of $100 for every 
package delivered.’ ” 
Professor Johnson writes under the same date to the 
National Nurseryman: “This stock was released to-day 
Messrs. Stuart & Co. having satisfied this office that it was all 
right and filed certificate of inspection.” 
A FIRST-CLASS TREE. 
The article entitled, “What is a First-class Tree?” pub¬ 
lished on page 91 of the current volume of the National 
Nurseryman, has been widely copied, our comment being in- 
included with Professor Bailey’s statement, without credit. 
Inasmuch as such general interest in the subject has been 
manifested we quote again from Professor Bailey : 
“Common opinion demands that a tree, to be first-class, 
must be perfectly straight and comely. This arbitrary stand¬ 
ard is but the expression of the general demand for large and 
handsome trees. But there are some varieties of fruit trees 
which cannot be made to grow in a comely fashion, and hence 
there is always a tendency to discontinue growing them, not¬ 
withstanding the fact that they may possess great intrinsic 
merit. All this is to be deplored. 
“The requirements of a first-class tree should be that the 
specimen is vigorous, free from disease and blemishes, and 
that it possess the characteristics of the variety. This allows 
a crooked tree to be first-class if it is a Greening or Red 
Canada apple, because it is the nature of these varieties to 
grow crooked. A crooked or wayward grower is not necessa¬ 
rily a weak one. It is advisable to top-work weak-growing 
varieties upon strong-growing and straight-growing ones. 
“A first-class tree is well-grown ; that is, the various opera¬ 
tions to which it has been subjected by the nurseryman have 
been properly performed. It must be mature—that is, not 
stripped of its leaves before the foliage has thoroughly ripened. 
It must be of the proper age for planting. It must have a 
clean, smooth bark. It must have a stocky, strong trunk, good 
roots, and be free of borers and other insect injuries. The 
union—at the bud or graft—must be completely healed over. 
Stocky and rather short trees, with well-branched heads, are 
always preferable to very tall ones. Very slender trees, if 
above one or two years old, should be avoided. Nurserymen 
express the size of a tree by its diameter about three inches 
above the bud. The measuring is usually done by a caliper. 
The diameter of a first-class tree varies with the method of 
growing and trimming it. In the New York nurseries, a first- 
class two-year-old apple tree (budded) should caliper five- 
eights to three-fourths of an inch. Plums run about the same. 
Pears will generally run a sixteenth of an inch less, and sour 
cherries about a sixteenth more. Sweet cherries will run 
three-quarters inch and above.” 
AT PAINESVILLE, OHIO. 
The Storrs & Harrison Company, Painesville, O., has com¬ 
pleted a range of twelve new greenhouses, eight 22 x 100 feet, 
and four 11x100 feet, a total of 26,000 feet of glass. The 
sash material is entirely of cypress lumber. Two of the 22- 
foot houses have ground benches and are to be used exclu¬ 
sively for azaleas. The other houses are fitted up with raised 
benches, one-inch pipe being used for frame and standards—a 
specially designed tile bottom affording sufficient drainage—al¬ 
together a most durable and complete bench. The last men¬ 
tioned houses will be used for general greenhouse stock—car¬ 
nations, roses, geraniums, palms, etc. 
Although the San Jose scale has existed in New Jersey for 
ten years the damage sustained is comparatively slight and 
local. “ Practically none save peach trees have been actually 
killed,” says Dr. J. B. Smith, the state entomologist, “ and 
no single fruit grower has sustained serious injury.” 
“ The reliable nurseryman can tell a good tree better than 
any amateur alive,” says the Rural New Yorker, “and he is 
bound by every law of self-interest to furnish the best trees 
he knows how to his customers. We would rather trust the 
judgment of a good nurseryman than to trust our own. This 
is a very simple rule then : Deal with a good nurseryman. 
The next question, of course, is : Where does he live ?” 
Inasmuch as attention has lately been called to Japan as the 
probable source of the San Jose scale and other injurious in¬ 
sects, it is of interest to note that great advancement is being 
made in the work of the experiment stations in the island em¬ 
pire of the Pacific. There is a central station at Tokyo and 
there are six branch stations, at all of which plant diseases 
and injurious insects are studied, plants and seeds are dis¬ 
tributed, farmers’ meetings are addressed, questions answered 
and reports published. 
