THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
99 
no action on the matter and evidently has no confidence in 
the validity of the statute. Other efforts have been made 
to arrange with Mr. Taft for a test case but without avail. 
In the opinion of the committee it is reasonably safe to 
ship goods into Michigan without fumigation, but we would 
advise that the certificate be filed, license fee paid, and the 
bond filed with the change previously suggested, and we 
believe that no trouble will be made for any member of the 
Association if this course is followed. 
VIRGINIA AGAIN. 
One more word in regard to the state of Virginia. The 
question has been asked whether a wholesale nurseryman 
doing business, for example, in Rochester, can ship to a whole¬ 
sale customer located at Richmond, Va., without paying the 
Virginia license tax of $20.00. The opinion of our attorney 
is that if the Rochester nurseryman received the order by 
mail from the Virginia nurseryman, and accepts the order 
by mail with the understanding that the goods are sold 
F. O. B. Rochester, the sale is made in Rochester, the delivery 
is made in Rochester, and the Virginia law cannot apply to 
business done outside of the state of Virginia, and that the 
Rochester nurseryman was under no obligation to take out 
a license in Virginia for transactions of this character. Fur¬ 
ther that he could fill the order, ship the goods F. 0. B. Roch¬ 
ester, taking a bill of lading, and that his responsibility 
would then cease, and if any trouble occurred that it would not 
alter the responsibility of the nurseryman in Virginia for the 
amount of the invoice. That, of course, after the goods 
reached the state of Virginia without a certificate tag, the 
Virginia authorities would have the right to hold them up 
and examine them, and handle them according to law, but 
that would not interest the Rochester nurseryman, but rather 
the Virginia nurseryman would be responsible for the Roch¬ 
ester man for the amount of the bill. 
SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
Des Moines, Ia., July 29 1904. 
Mr. C. L. Watrous 
Dear Sir: 
A short statement supplementing my report to you under 
date of June 10, 1904. 
Since that report was made an opportunity presented 
itself whereby it was thought possible to secure a test case 
in the state of West Virginia. An agent of Chase Brothers 
Company, Mr. Wm. A. G. Bryan, of Swann, West Virginia, 
was arrested in that county for violation of the West Virginia 
license law, and was taken before Anthony Bicker, Justice 
of the Peace for Myron District, Cabell County, West 
Virginia. The case was handled by the attorneys of the 
Association, Messrs. McGuire & Wood of Rochester, through 
local attorneys, Messrs. Sims & Enslow, of Huntingdon, 
West Virginia. 
Messrs. Sims & Enslow appeared at the hearing and made 
the point that the law did not apply to the agent but to 
the principal, and in consideration of this defense the 
Justice discharged the defendant, holding that the law did 
not apply to the agent but to the employer. 
The decision is good so far as it goes, but it was hoped 
that the justice would decide against us so that we might 
be possible to get the case into a higher court. That does 
not seem to be feasible at this time. 
It will probably be well for the trade interested to take a 
memorandum of this case and advise their agents accord¬ 
ingly, and if the authorities in West Virginia understand that 
such decision has been rendered it is likely that they will 
be somewhat slow in attacking agents in the future. The 
law, as it reads, is certainly perfectly clear and plain, and 
the requirement as to license applies plainly to the empkwer 
and not to the salesman. Yours very truly, 
William Pitkin, 
Chairman of Sub Committee. 
NURSERY CONDITIONS IN GEORGIA. 
CHAHLKS T. SMITH, CONCORD, GA. 
Road before the annual convention of the American Association of 
Nurserymen in Atlanta, Ga., June 22-24. 
A nurseryman, when traveling, always feels a lively interest 
m the progress of nursery work in any country that he may 
be visiting and we know that you are all interested in what 
we are doing here in Georgia, so at the request of your com¬ 
mittee on program I will take a few minutes of your time 
and tell you of nursery conditions of Georgia. When I am 
in New York or in the west I want to know just what you 
are doing there in the nursery business and 1 am sure when 
you come south you feel the same interest in what we are 
doing, as you want to carry back with you correct ideas of 
what is being accomplished in your line of work here. 
You last met in the south just twelve years ago. 
when you held your convention in this same city. The 
nursery business here at that time was in its infancy as com¬ 
pared with present conditions. The business has made 
steady and strong growth in those twelve years until to-day 
there are probably ten times as many trees grown in the 
state as were grown in 1892. At that time there were about 
twentv-five nursery firms in the state, while there are to-day 
about two hundred firms in the business, according to reports 
of the State department of Entomology. It will be under¬ 
stood that the great majority of these growers produce only 
in a small way, or as a side line to other work, just as it is in 
all parts of the country. There are only a few firms who 
are in the business on' an extensive scale. 
As a nursery state, Georgia has forged to the front in the 
past few years and until to-day she leads all the Southern 
States in the production of young trees. It is estimated that 
there are growing here this season over 20,000,000 nursery 
trees, which number is surpassed by only a few of the Northern 
States. This large increase in the business has taken place 
mainly in the last five years and has been called into existence 
chiefly on account of the immense demand for June budded 
peach trees. The great bulk of the stock grown is of this 
class and perhaps more than half of the firms engaged in the 
business in the state arc growing June budded peach exclu¬ 
sively. In the production of this class of stock Georgia 
leads all other states. The immense planting of commercial 
peach orchards in this and adjoining states has created a 
demand for cheap trees and the June budded peach supplies 
the demand satisfactorily. Our nurseries furnish trees 
not only for the demand within the state but are shipping 
millions of them to other parts of the country. 
THE PEACH INDUSTRY. 
The growth of commercial peach orcharding in the 
south for the past few years is unparalleled. It is estimated 
that there are nearly 16,000,000 trees growing in the 
orchards of Georgia. Less than half of these trees are now 
in bearing but the crop of peaches in this state has been 
variously estimated at between 5,000 anti 6,000 carloads. 
You see we are doing our part here toward feeding the world 
on this the queen of all fruits. If the peach produced 
a full crop every year it might be said that we have enough 
planted for the present, but between spring frosts, brown 
rot and other maladies to which the peach is subject, we hardly 
