56 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
UNIFORM LEGISLATION 
Portion of Paper Read by M. McDonald, Member of Nurserymen’s Joint 
Committee on Uniform Legislation, before the California Fruit 
Growers’ Convention, Los Angeles, California. 
B EGINNING with the assumption that horticul¬ 
tural laws are right in principle and ne¬ 
cessary for the proper protection of the 
great orchard industries that have been devel¬ 
oped in this country during the last half century; and be¬ 
lieving as we all do, that the most thorough, systematic 
and scientific investigation should be pursued in working 
out the life history of all injurious insect pests and fun¬ 
gus diseases that prey upon plant life and its products, 
with the object of their control and final eradication, we 
are brought face to face with the great problem of how 
best to construct laws that will at once be broad enough 
in their application to fully protect, conserve and foster 
the varied horticultural interests of the whole country, 
and at the same time be reasonable, fair and j ust, without 
imposing unnecessary hardship or inj ustice upon any 
particular branch of horticulture. 
The American system of government being divided into 
federal, state, county and municipal legislative bodies, 
with the initiative and referendum in many of the states 
Relegating to the people themselves the power to make and 
unmake laws,—brings before us the question of how 
shall we approach the construction and administration of 
horticultural laws that will be uniform in their operation, 
giving adequate protection to the fruit growing and allied 
interests of the different states, while at the same time 
being j ust and fair to all interested parties. 
Shall we, as now, continue multiplying county, state 
and federal laws, each in operation in the same state at 
the same time, and often in conflict with each other; 
sometimes their operation and enforcement left to inspec¬ 
tors whose appointment may have been due to some poli¬ 
tical preference, and without any previous experience or 
training for the serious technical work in hand, with 
power to condemn and destroy property without due pro¬ 
cess of law, thereby sometimes causing great financial 
loss to the owner of the property; and in other cases al¬ 
lowing injurious insect pests, fungus or bacterial dis¬ 
eases to be introduced because of lack of proper training 
and knowledge on the part of the inspector? Or, shall 
we approach this big problem from the broad viewpoint 
of the best law that can be constructed, which should be 
good enough for all, and that nothing less will satisfy the 
fruit growing interests; that it shall be uniform in its op¬ 
eration, and be enforced by competent trained men, op¬ 
erating under a central state authority and working har¬ 
moniously in co-operation with the Federal Horticultural 
Board? 
At present, we have innumerable state and county laws 
bearing on this important subject, — scarcely any two of 
them alike in construction or operation, and often in con¬ 
flict with each other. Most of these laws have been mod¬ 
eled with California State laws as an original basis, but 
they have been altered and changed, until today it is al¬ 
most impossible for an ordinary person to ship any farm 
product from one county or State to another without 
either first having an attorney look up the statutes of the 
state or county into which you are. going to ship the ar¬ 
ticle, or take the chance of violating some law or county 
ordinance. 
To a person not accustomed to shipping fruit or vege¬ 
tables, this may appear an extreme view, but 1 can assure 
you that shippers of these products find conditions as 
stated, and it would appear that unless some united effort 
is put forth by this and other Pacific coast States to se¬ 
cure some effective, uniform law, state laws and county 
ordinances will continue to multiply as time goes on until 
it will be hard to transport agricultural products from 
one county to another; because other states and counties 
in other states, taking their cue from California, are con¬ 
sidering more drastic legislation. Some of these laws are 
conceived in a spirit of retaliation. This is not as it 
should be, for what is for the interest of one county is for 
the interest of another, and in a larger way what is for 
the interest of one state, is for the interest of all. Es¬ 
pecially must this be true in the working and operation of 
horticultural laws in the abatement and eradication of in¬ 
sect pests, bacterial and fungus diseases. 
Inspection, thorough and effective, at the point of or¬ 
igination, by men not alone qualified to inspect, but by 
men having knowledge of the rules, regulations and re¬ 
quirements of the law at point of final delivery, will do a 
great deal to clear up the situation, so that the seller will 
not be put to unnecessary expense and loss through his 
ignorance of the laws; and that the purchaser may not 
unnecessarily be exposed to danger from some injurious 
insect pests or diseases in sections where there may be no 
law or inspection. Remember, injurious insect pests and 
diseases do not obey the law of arbitrary boundary lines. 
Of what possible value can a county or state ordinance 
be for the protection of the fruit growers when such 
boundary line runs through a thickly settled agricultural 
country, with different rules and regulations on each side 
of this fixed boundary line? Nothing short of a uniform 
law, with uniform rules and regulations for its enforce¬ 
ment by competent trained men under the supervision of 
some central authority in each state, supplemented by a 
most rigid federal quarantine enforcement at all ports of 
entry and points of access from foreign countries, will 
fully protect the horticultural interests of any state. 
All state and federal laws should be so harmoniously 
adjusted that sectional quarantine restrictions will be un¬ 
der the control and supervision of the federal authorities; 
so that certain infected areas when necessary may be 
quarantined without taking into consideration county or 
state lines. 
