170 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
The National N urseryman. 
C. L. YATES, Proprietor. RALPH T. OLCOTT, Editor. 
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 
The National Nurseryman Publishing Co., 
305 Cox Building, Rochester, N. Y. 
The only trade journal issued for Growers and Dealers in Nursery Stock of 
all kinds. It circulates throug;hout the United States and Canada. 
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NURSERYMEN. 
SUBSCRIPTION RATES. 
One year, in advance, _____ $1.00 
Six Months, ______ ,-75 
Foreign Subscriptions, in advance, - - - 1.50 
Six Months, “ “ - _ _ i.oo 
Advertising rates will be sent upon application. Advertisements 
should reach this office by the 20th of the month previous to the date 
of issue. 
Payment in advance required for foreign advertisements. 
[[^“Drafts on New York or postal orders, instead of checks, are 
requested. 
Correspondence from all points and articles of interest to nursery¬ 
men and horticulturists are cordially solicited. 
Entered in the Post Office at Rochester, as second-class matter. 
Rochester, N. Y., January, 1898. 
A LEADING TOPIC. 
This journal devoted considerable space during 1897 to the 
San Jose scale. The subject became early in the year one of 
great importance to nurserymen because of legislation, effected 
and proposed, which bore directly upon their interests. At 
nearly all the horticultural society meetings the San Jose scale 
and the nursery business were discussed together; laws gov¬ 
erning the sale of nursery stock were proposed in several state 
legislatures and in some cases were passed, and the subject is 
now before congress. 
As the result of constant watchfulness in presenting the 
developments in the agitation for the suppression of this scale, 
the nurserymen of the country were enabled to act intelligently 
upon the matter at the annual meeting of the American Asso¬ 
ciation in St. Louis last June. The federal bill drafted and 
approved at that time is now before the people’s representa¬ 
tives at Washington. Its provisions govern the sale of nursery 
stock in such a manner as, it is believed, will guard against 
dissemination of the scale and at the same time will not un¬ 
duly interfere with the conduct of the nursery business. It 
has been fully endorsed by the state entomologists of Mary¬ 
land and Virginia, which states have been foremost in the 
endeavor to prevent the spread of the scale in the East. 
Hon. C. L. Watrous, Des Moines, Iowa, chairman of the 
committee on legislation, of the American Association, writes 
to the National Nurseryman as follows: 
“The committee on legislation, appointed at St. Louis has 
arranged for a meeting in Washington in January—after the 
holiday recess of congress—to present the federal bill and try 
to secure favorable consideration. 
“Furthermore, it has carried on a very friendly correspon¬ 
dence with members of other committees interested in procur¬ 
ing legislation for the same purposes. It is a matter for con¬ 
gratulation that good progress has been made towards securing 
such harmony of views as promises substantial unity of effort 
before congress.” 
It is believed that all who are interested in this subject, 
horticulturists, entomologists and nurserymen, will join in the 
effort to secure uniformity of laws under which all may ope¬ 
rate for the general welfare. 
President C. M. Hobbs, of the Indiana State Horticultural 
Society, member of the well-known nursery firm of Albertson & 
Hobbs, Bridgeport, Ind., who has been actively interested in 
proposed legislation on the San Jose scale, writes to the 
National Nurseryman : 
“ Our state society is decidedly in favor of state and national 
legislation as a help in the suppression of the scale. We are 
not irrevocablv committed to any particular bill, state or 
national. The interstate or national legislation should be 
comprehensive enough to cover essential details, but not so 
much so as to render it impractical in its application. 
“The state legislation should be as uniform in all the states 
as possible. I see no reason why a law that properly covers 
the ground in one state should not apply equally well in another 
state. If this hodge podge of state legislation goes on, it will 
require a Philadelphia lawyer in the nursery offices throughout 
the country to keep track of the thing 
“I see some authorities are questioning the necessity of any 
legislation. As in many other cases, I think the right lies be¬ 
tween the two extremes.” 
SEND AGENTS FOR NOVELTIES. 
Secretary Wilson of the United States Department of Agri¬ 
culture proposes that not less than ^20,000 of the seed appro¬ 
priation be used for sending agents abroad to look up new and 
valuable varieties of fruits, seeds, bulbs, trees and plants, with 
a view to distributing them among the experiment stations to 
be carefully tested. 
This is an excellent suggestion, inasmuch as congress seems 
determined to appropriate large sums for the testing of varie¬ 
ties, aside from the work of the experiment stations. It would 
perhaps be better if the entire seed appropriation were thus 
expended, for some profit would result in the introduction of 
additional foreign varieties. The experiment stations, 54 in 
number, in every section of this country, it would seem, could 
determine the value of seeds which it is proposed by the gov¬ 
ernment to have the farmers test. 
THE MAKECHE. 
The New York Sun has discovered a man in New York who 
says he has imported a beetle called the Makeche, from Cen¬ 
tral America, which eats metal. Three beetles, he says, bored 
through the pewter cover of a glass jar in which they had been 
imprisoned, and the chips of the metal were found in the bot¬ 
tom of the jar. The Sun, with its usual regard for the truth, 
publishes pictures of the beetle, the metal chips and the pewter 
cover, showing the holes through which the beetle escaped. 
We respectfully suggest that, pending further developments 
by the San Jose scale, the entomologists turn their attention to 
this new comer which threatens the destruction of steam boilers 
and steel vaults. 
