THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
89 
finds upon investigation after his return from the convention, 
that one of the strongest supporters of the Virginia license bill 
in the legislature is a nurseryman and large orchardist, and 
that the outline of this law was drawn up and presented before 
the Scate Horticultural Society, many members of which are 
nurserymen, and not one objected at the time, though several 
are complaining now. In West Virginia, Mr. Morton reports, 
the license law is not being vigorously enforced as yet. 
M. McDonald, vice-president of the State of Oregon, 
remarked significantly while he was in Rochester: “It is a 
good thing to discuss legal measures enacted and proposed 
and determine what is best for the nursery interests generally. 
I would not like to go back to the old way of doing business 
without laws especially affecting it. I believe that regulations 
regarding inspection and transportation have raised the stand¬ 
ard of the business, and that with proper laws we shall get 
along better. 
“ In my opinion,” continued Mr. McDonald, “ we should not 
seek to fight legislation ; but should seek to guide it, going 
before legislative bodies and explaining the requirements of 
our business so that legislators may act intelligently.” 
We believe that Mr. McDonald has expressed the sentiment 
that should actuate the Association. Of course in the case of 
an established law that is regarded by the nurserymen as 
unfair, or, as in the case of the license laws of Virginia and 
West Virginia, as unconstitutional, it is conceded that the law 
should be contested, rather than submitted to. But the greatest 
service will result from a guidance of legislation, and we 
believe that the move of the state vice-presidents in this direc¬ 
tion may easily prove of the highest importance. 
PEONY CULTURE. 
There is much demand at present for the Peony. Renewed 
interest in this flower has been manifested and the formation 
of the American Peony Society in Detroit in June, it is 
expected, will result in the classification of the varieties 
according to an accepted standard. In Europe and Asia the 
chief use of the Peony is as a landscape subject. In America 
it is used mainly as a cut flower. In the West a number of 
growers have fields of ten acres or more, cutting the blooms 
by hundred thousands in a single season, having cold storage 
for retarding them so they can be marketed as late as August, 
the flowers retailing at $1 to $4 per dozen. The demand for 
plants is very heavy. One grower will plant 10,000 Festiva 
Maxima, the best white one for cut flowers. Recently a 
single plant of Jenny Lind was sold, it is said, for the record 
price of $1,000 by C. Betscher, of Canal Dover, O., to C. W. 
Ward, Queens, N. Y. 
GOVERNMENT DISTRIBUTION. 
Secretary Wilson, of the Department of Agriculture, an¬ 
nounces in his annual report that the method of securing seed 
for distribution under act of Congress, from a contractor, has 
be^n abandoned, as it was never satisfactory, offering oppor¬ 
tunity for inferior service, and, besides, working a hardship on 
the seed trade of the country, something the Department has 
no desire to continue. Under the new system the Depar- 
rnent secures its own seed in the open market, and contracts 
only for the purely mechanical features of the work, such as 
the packeting of the seed and the mailing. The Department 
will gradually substitute new or little-known seeds, such as 
specialties or novelties, for the more common sorts heretofore 
distributed. 
Seedsmen are now co-operative with the Department ” 
says Secretary Wilson, in furnishing these specialties and 
novelties, and the Department will distribute them possibly 
only one year, dropping them then and allowing the demand, 
if demand there be, to be met by the regular trade.” 
It has been found that promiscuous distribution of seeds 
and plants, many of which are of great value, does not give in 
all cases satisfactory results. 1 herefore the Department 
proposes to establish in a number of places in the country 
testing gardens. 
A MORE BEAUTIFUL AMERICA. 
The seventh annual meeting of the American Park and 
Outdoor Art Association was held in Buffalo, July 7th, with 
an attendance of 250. Among those present were C. J. Maloy, 
Rochester, N. Y.; Thomas B. Meehan, Dreshertown, Pa.; 
Charles Dawson, Minnie Dawson, of Eastern Nursery, Jamaica 
Plain, Mass. “A more beautiful America” is the aim of 
the association, and while the removal of billboards and the 
soot and smoke nuisance are among the reforms advocated, 
the improvement of the landscape as bearing upon the nursery 
business is an important part of the work of the association. 
This is one of the many far-reaching sources of advancement 
of the nursery business which are being fostered entirely inde¬ 
pendent of trade efforts. The education of the public effected 
through this association on the subject of the importance of 
ornamental trees and shrubs should be of direct benefit to the 
nursery trade throughout the country. 
The association re-elected Clinton Rogers Woodruff, of Phil¬ 
adelphia, president. Charles M. Robinson, Rochester, N. Y., 
is the secretary. Among those who participated in the program 
were Prof. L. H. Bailey, John C. Olmsted, Hon. Andrew H. 
Green, Mrs. Herman J. Hall and Mrs. Frances Copley Seavey. 
The press of the country is practically unanimous in its 
denunciation of the free distribution of seeds by the govern¬ 
ment and now it is charged publicly by the United States 
authorities that there were frauds in relation to the contract 
for providing seeds for such distribution. In the face of all 
this, Congress continues the practice. The Secretary of 
Agriculture can only act as wisely as possible under the 
mandate of his superiors. 
We present in another column abstracts of the laws in the 
Virginias, which it is believed are unconstitutional and which 
the legislative committee of the American Association was 
directed at the Detroit convention to test as to legality. 
PARK' AND CEMETERY WORK. 
Park Improvement — At Manchester, Mass; Lincoln, Neb.; St. 
Joseph, Mo.; Pekin, Ill.; Seattle, Wash.; York, Pa.; Traer, la.; 
Central Park, New York City ; South Park, Des Moines, la. 
Cemetery Improvement—At Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Dubuque, la.; 
Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Sioux Falls, S. D ; Catholic Cemetery, Butte, 
Mont.; Fairview Cemetery, Acton, Ont.; Elmwood Cemetery, 
Owensburg, Ky.; Des Moines, la. 
