THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
215 
PINE QUARANTINE 
Mr. C. L. Marlatt, Chairman of the Federal Horticul¬ 
tural Board objects to our criticism of the haste in which 
the Pine Quarantine was put into effect and is anxious 
for his side of the case to he brought before the readers 
of the National Nurseryman. We herewith publish his 
letter verbatum which gives in detail the action of the 
Board in relation to it. 
United States Department of Agriculture, Federal Hor¬ 
ticultural Board, Washington, D. C. 
April 7, 1915. 
Dear Sir:— 
I regret to note an editorial item on page 135 of the 
National Nurseryman for April, 1915, which very 
strongly and unjustly criticises the Federal Horticultural 
Board of this Department. In the instance of this par¬ 
ticular pine quarantine the Board has taken unusual pre¬ 
cautions to see that all parties in interest should have 
opportunity to express themselves, and has given unusual 
time for such expression of opinion. For your informa¬ 
tion I am giving you a record of the public information 
and notices given prior to the promulgation of this quar¬ 
antine. 
After an investigation which extended over some 
months a warning letter was issued in relation to the 
European pine shoot moth ( Evetria buoliana) under 
date of October 26, 1914. This letter was widely distri- 
buted, including trade journals. 
In a letter of December 9, 1914, to Mr. Pitkin. Chair¬ 
man of the Nurserymen’s Committee on Legislation, the 
facts relative to this insect were given and the request 
was made that he take up the subject of quarantine with 
the nursery interests which would be affected and report 
any suggestions to this office. On January 6, 1915, a 
report was received from Mr. Pitkin which indicated 
that the majority of the nurserymen were in favor of 
quarantine action, and that there was no strong objection 
to such action. 
A Notice of Public Hearing was duly issued, January 
23, 1915, and this hearing was held in Washington, Feb¬ 
ruary 2. Mr. Kelsey, of the F. W. Kelsey Nursery Com¬ 
pany, was the only nurseryman present at the hearing. 
The chief point made was that an immediate quarantine 
would affect contracts and shipments enroute. Mr. Pit¬ 
kin, for example, writing that "If I remember correctly 
the substance of the letters that I received from a num¬ 
ber of nurserymen, extracts of which were sent you, 
nobody made any very serious objection against the 
quarantine, but I have a letter today from Mr. Fred W. 
Kelsey, of New York in which he suggests that if you 
decide on a quarantine that it should not be effective 
until June or July, thus permitting the importation of 
stock this spring for which contracts have already been 
made.” Due consideration was given to this suggestion, 
and the quarantine was provisionally drawn effective 
July 1, 1915. Prior, however, to issuing this quarantine, 
in view of the small attendance at the hearing, another 
effort was made to reach all nurserymen interested tor 
any constructive criticisms or suggestions, and a notice 
was sent to the leading trade journals, including I lie 
National Nurseryman, and this notice was published in 
your journal for March, 1915. page 100. This notice was 
also published in other trade journals. Not a single re¬ 
sponse was received to this notice. We were, therefore, 
perfectly justified in taking for granted that the nur¬ 
sery trade had no objection whatever to the quarantine 
or the effective date, July 1. 1915. 
I have gone into this matter particularly to bring to 
your attention the pains which the Board took in this in¬ 
stance to see that nurserymen had a full opportunity for 
the presentation of any suggestions, and mv purpose in 
doing this is not so much that I am interested in bringing 
these facts to your attention as I am in indicating tin- un¬ 
desirability from our standpoint of trade journals such 
as yours making such criticisms without foundation and 
especially in view of the very painstaking effort on the 
part of this Board to give nurserymen a fair hearing on 
any matter which comes before it for consideration which 
may effect the nursery interests. Certainly if trade jour¬ 
nals such as yours show such complete absence of court¬ 
esy or effort to acquaint themselves with the facts as in¬ 
dicated in this editorial criticism, the Board might justly 
feel that it was wasting its time in attempting to carry 
out the policy which it has laid down of giving a fair 
hearing on all subjects which affect nursery interests. 
It goes without saying that the Board will continue to 
treat nurserymen fairly, but it will appreciate similar 
fair treatment on the part of trade journals devoted to 
the nursery trade. 
It should be stated that the Board had authority, and 
perhaps full justification, for the establishment of an im¬ 
mediate quarantine covering European pines without 
consideration to existing contracts or shipments enroute. 
That such course would have been fully justified is in¬ 
dicated by two reports received within the week indicat¬ 
ing practically a 50 per cent, infestation of pines with 
this insect. Nurserymen and forestry interests in this 
country may still, therefore, have occasion to seriously 
regret that this Board in view of the wishes of the nur¬ 
serymen adopted so lenient a course in this instance. 
Yours very truly, 
G. L. Marlatt, Chairman of Board. 
Mr. Ernest Hemming. Editor. 
The National Nurseryman. 
Flourtown, Pennsylvania. 
ARBOR DAYS OF THE STATES. 
For the first hundred years as a nation the United 
States was too busy cutting down trees for homes, to 
realize that we were in many cases causing needless 
waste in our manner of home making. \\ hen we began 
to appreciate the real value of our trees, we also awoke 
to the fact that each year they w ere grow ing scarcer. As 
a result we have begun to plant trees and to try to save 
those we have. For a number ot years nearly all the 
states have observed an annual Arbor day and in some 
states—there have been one in the spring and another in 
the fall. It is, in some states, fixed by law r , and in others 
the governor is empowered to proclaim a date which he 
deems advisable. It is observed more particularly by the 
public schools, the state in many cases furnishing the 
trees for the children to plant and the operation taking 
place with appropriate ceremonies. I he greatest bene- 
