THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
55 
requirement of the Maryland and Virginia laws we arranged 
to fumigate with hydrocyanic acid gas all of the stock which 
we shipped from our packing-ground. The expense hecessary 
for this was small, and we are well satisfied with the result of 
the experiment. We believe if all nurserymen were compelled 
to fumigate their stock, the result would be greatly to the ad¬ 
vantage of fruit growers and nurserymen generally.” 
SAYS NURSERYMEN WERE WANTED. 
W. W. Farnsworth, secretary Ohio State Horticultural 
Society, Waterville, O.:—“As one of the committee of three 
who wrote the call to the convention I can say that nursery¬ 
men were invited and wanted. I am a nurseryman myself in 
a very small way as well as a fruit grower, and I do not see 
how the interests of the one can antagonize the other in this 
matter, and would be very soiry, indeed, to do anything that 
would in any way place unnecessary restrictions or hardships 
upon either. But every one who has given the matter any 
attention realizes that something must be done and the object 
in calling that convention was to see what that something was 
and thus try and do it. 
“The committee on legislation contained at least three 
nurserymen, and the number of them in attendance can be 
seen by examining the list of delegates. 
“ If the bill is faulty amend it by all means, but do not try 
to convey the impression that nothing can or need be done, nor 
that the nurseryman on one side and the entomologists and 
fruit growers on the other comprise two separate and distinct 
classes with diverse and antagonistic interests.” 
NEW JERSEY’S ENTOMOLOGIST. 
Prof. John B. Smith, entomologist of the New Jersey Agri¬ 
cultural College Experiment Station, New Brunswick, N. J.: 
—“In your issue for April ’97 you devote considerable space 
to the legislation proposed by the convention at Washington, 
March 5th and 6th. It is quite right that you should call the 
attention of the nurserymen to this bill and should bring out 
any objections that there might be to it. It is only after the 
fullest discussion of a subject of this kind that a proper course 
can be arrived at. As a mere spectator at the meeting referred 
to, although an experiment station entomologist, I may have 
the right to speak in criticism of what was done at the meeting 
without stultifying myself by having voted one way and acted 
another, and I can also praise, without being accused of simply 
defending a measure which I had an interest in passing. 
“ I am free to say that I believe in as little legislation as 
possible in matters of this kind. It seems to me that, as a 
matter of mere self-protection, nurserymen should do all 
within their power to keep the San Jose scale out of their 
grounds, and that they should welcome any assistance that can 
be offered by state or national governments that will enable 
them to recognize the presence of the insect in the earliest 
possible stages. I will call attention, however, to the fact that 
the legislation proposed is not directed against the San Jose 
scale alone. It is directed against any insects that might be 
imported from other countries. An introduction of the San 
Jose scale into California for instance would not be a serious 
matter, since the insect already occurs in that state ; but an 
introduction into that state of the ‘ orange fruit-worm would 
be a most serious misfortune. 
“It should be remembered that the most serious pests with 
which fruit growers and nurserymen have to deal are insects 
which have been imported from a foreign territory, and in 
New Jersey we have suffered severely in recent years from 
three insects that might have been kept out by a system of 
quarantine, such as is proposed in the bill. I refer to the 
‘sinuate pear-borer,’ which has destroyed numerous orchards 
as far as it has spread ; to the ‘pear midge,’ which has caused 
losses amounting to many thousands of dollars in Connecticut. 
New York and New Jersey, and the ‘wood leopard moth,’ 
which, besides killing many fruit trees, is also destroying shade 
trees in the cities immediately surrounding the port of New 
York. We may add the ‘elm leaf beetle’ to this same list, 
although it does not attack fruit trees. 
“To your criticism of the Californian laws that they permit 
the distribution of infested stock to other states, while guard¬ 
ing themselves against its receipt, the obvious answer is that 
if all other states guarded themselves as well, California simply 
could not send out the infested stock. It seems to me that the 
interests of the nurseryman lie with those of the fruit grower 
in this particular. How serious a pest the San Jose scale is, 
can never be realized by one who has not dealt with it. 
Nurserymen who are fortunate enough to have establishments 
outside of the range of this insect will, of course, object to any 
legislation on the subject, since it would be an annoyance 
to them without any possible benefit; but on the other hand, 
when it is realized that their establishments do lie outside of 
the range of the scale their trade will be increased by this very 
fact, and inspection will be perfunctory. 
Furthermore, the bill provides its own remedy against the 
suggested inconvenience of a failure of the inspector to ex¬ 
amine stock, since the secretary of agriculture may appoint any 
member of the firm or even an employee as inspector to make 
the examination. I must confess that in my opinion this 
renders the bill of little value ; nevertheless, it seems that for 
this very reason nurserymen have no particular right to com¬ 
plain. It may also be as well to say that the interests of the 
fruit grower are by all odds the most important in this matter. 
When the men interested in the nursery are compared with 
those interested in fruit it does seem that the primary consid¬ 
eration should be the protection of the fruit grower. I am 
sorry to say that as a class he needs protection. There are 
plenty of individuals who do not, and who are fully able to take 
care of themselves ; but there are a great many also who be¬ 
come easy subjects of a plausible salesman, and I am sorry to 
say that there are some nurserymen who are not entirely 
honest. I have always adopted the theory that a man is to be 
considered honest until the contrary is proved, and I have on 
first dealings with a man always trusted him to do as he said 
he would. I have found that my trust has been misplaced in 
some instances,—not many I am glad to say,—and those men 
cannot under any circumstances gain any favors or considera¬ 
tion from me in the future. It is obviously against the inter¬ 
ests of a nurseryman who has a reputation to be dishonest, and 
particularly toward an experiment station, whose word of re¬ 
commendation on the contrary, may mean a great deal to him. 
A man who cannot restrain his dishonesty where it is obvi¬ 
ously in his own interest, cannot be trusted to deal justly with 
his customers. It is against such men that protection is 
needed and protection can be gained only by national legis¬ 
lation. 
I have had at least as much experience with the San Jose 
scale as any individual station worker, and I believe the insect 
is to be dreaded more than any other pest that has ever in- 
