94 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
States particularly, they are to be excluded by an enormous 
taxation, whereas they are now upon the free list.” 
Mr. Gear of Iowa—“ The Mahaleb cherry is the stock. I 
do not recollect the cherry called the Mahaleb, but it is the 
stock on which cherries are grafted.” 
Mr. Vest—“ I do not know, but I am as certain as I am that 
I am speaking in the Senate of the United States that some 
nurseryman had a job when he had that put in. It was not 
done by accident, and it was no rhetorical exhibition. There 
is money at the bottom of it. They never would have picked 
out this particular cherry tree and put this enormous duty on 
it except to answer their own purposes. The senator from 
Iowa very frankly tells us that he presumes it was done by 
some nurseryman.” 
THE POOR MAN’S FLOWER. 
Senator Vest also strongly opposed the new clause relating 
to orchids, palms, etc. Said he: “The flower that adorns the 
humble home of the poor man, brightens the sick chamber, or 
goes upon the coffin of our dead is to be put up by this enor¬ 
mous duty to enable the nurserymen of the United States to 
rob and plunder, for that is the whole meaning of it in plain 
English. I hope the senate will vote the amendment down, 
but it is a faint hope.” 
Senator Allison: “ Under the act of 1894, the existing law, 
the great necessity of life known as orchids, which are found 
in every poor man’s home in great quantities, and lilies of the 
valley are already taxed 10 per cent. The senator from Mis¬ 
souri four years ago did not observe the absolute importance 
of these things to the poor man’s home. If people go to the 
pains of importing flowers, expensive in their character for 
purposes of adornment and luxury, why should they not pay 
a little revenue ? ” 
Senator Jones, of Arkansas: “Is it a crime that the peo¬ 
ple of the United States desire to have something that is beau¬ 
tiful for their children—something that will make their homes 
attractive—something that will add a charm to the cabin, and 
something which the children of the poor raise in this 
country.” 
OPINION OF THE TARIFF. 
N. H. Albaugh, Tadmor, O., a member of the tariff com¬ 
mittee of the American Association says : “ The new tariff 
will certainly have a favorable effect on the nursery business 
of this country. With the cheap ocean freights and quick 
time, the cost of transporting all sorts of nursery stock from 
the western ports of Europe, was very little if any more than 
for transporting the same goods from New York to Ohio. 
“ The tariff on roses will tell much in favor of Eastern florists 
whose business was injured greatly by European importations. 
I think, however, that one dollar a thousand and fifteen per 
cent ad valorem, is a little high on evergreen seedlings, that 
often cost but fifty cents or less per thousand in Europe.” 
E. C. Peirson, proprietor of the Maple Grove Nurseries, 
Waterloo, N. Y., which have been established more than 30 
years, has transferred the business to his sons, A. H. and F. J. 
Peirson, who have grown up in the business and thoroughly 
understand it. The firm name will hereafter be Peirson 
Brothers. 
DROUGHT AT DANSVILLE. 
Danville, July 15 . —Nurserymen have suffered severely 
this season through the dry weather. Thousands of dollars 
worth of stock which gave great promise in early springtime, 
after a mild winter, has been destroyed by pests of various 
kinds which have defied the remedies prescribed by the most 
scientific experts of the state horticultural stations. The old¬ 
est nurserymen here say, with the drought and accompanying 
pests of aphis, lice and the destructive ravages of blighting 
mildew which seem to cover everything in nursery stock, the 
season promises to be most disastrous ever experienced in the 
history of the industry in the valley. W^th the heavy compe¬ 
tition that has arisen in the South, and the partial failure of 
production here, accompanied by extremely low prices, the 
nursery industry this season promises to be one without re¬ 
muneration to those engaged in it. 
The woodchuck is the object of concerted attack on the 
part of the nurserymen of Dansville. This animal burrows 
in the broad fields of flat lands planted to nursery stock. 
While particularly fond of sweet clover, he prefers the tender 
shoots of the newly budded stock, and takes instinctive 
pleasure in bending down the young scions and nipping off 
the heads, and filling his plethoric maw with the best the 
season affords, regardless of expense. Of course every shoot 
thus tampered with is destroyed commercially, and whole rows 
of valuable stock are rendered worthless in a single night to 
satisfy the greedy appetite of this worthless poacher. 
The ten cents bounty heretofore offered for dead wood¬ 
chucks, while furnishing an active pursuit for a few vagabond 
hunters, has utterly failed in the grand desideratum sought to 
be accomplished—the extermination of the pest. 
It is not an uncommon sight in Dansville to see two hunters, 
with a pole over their shonlders, carrying a string of twenty 
or twenty-five woodchucks, the result of half a day’s sport. 
The woodchuck as associated with the great nursery indus¬ 
try of Dansville, has become a serious subject, and united 
steps, as stated in the outset, have been taken for its eradica¬ 
tion. Now the nurserymen have resolved to resort to the new 
formula for the extermination of the ground hog, as recom¬ 
mended by the highest authority in horticultural circles, 
namely: Salt and Paris green. The voracious woodchuck 
hankers after salt, and one part of the corrosive poison to ten 
parts of the sodium, is an inviting sediment, which he relishes 
with great gusto, and sacrifices his life to his greedy appetite. 
It is said the passing of the woodchuck may be safely an¬ 
nounced as near at hand. 
The fifth edition of the nurserymen’s stock book revised to 
date is offered by Scrantom, Wetmore & Co., Rochester, N. Y. 
John Charlton offers as usual a fine lot of clematis, paeonies 
and other ornamental stock and small fruits ; also the Golden 
Glow flower. 
Winfried and Joseph Rolker, doing business under the style 
of August Rolker & Sons, wholesale dealers and importers of 
bulbs, flowering plants and florist supplies at 136 and 138 
West Twenty-fourth street. New York City, made an assign¬ 
ment July 9 to Francis Lawton, a lawyer, of 170 Broadway, 
without preference. The business was established in 1835 by 
their father, August Rolker, who died in 1877. The liabilities 
are $17,000; nominal assets, $18,000 ; actual assets, $10,000. 
