THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
63 
The National Nurseryman has gone 
TARIFF to some length to get the general senti¬ 
ment of the nurserymen on the proposed 
tariff which the new Congress will enact. Letters have 
been received from prominent nurserymen east and west, 
north and south. Some suggest that the duty on second- 
grade of fruit stocks might be lower, and again others that 
they should be higher. Then a few, a very few, believe 
that a cent or two reduction on roses might be advantageous, 
but by far the greater number advocate the retention of the 
present rate of four cents per plant. Some slight changes in 
the duty on ornamental stock were likewise suggested. 
In a country of the size of the United States, where soil, 
climate and conditions vary ^o greatly in widely spread 
sections and locations, it could hardly be expected that all 
nurserymen would hold the same opinions on a subject so 
diversified and yet of such vast importance; a subject which 
has been the constant study of our most eminent legislators 
for many years. Yet in all the replies received from nursery¬ 
men on the tariff question this one sentiment was most 
forcibly emphasized. Make no material reduction in the 
present rate of duty! 
That chairman Rouse and his committee on tariff were 
fully advised of the prevailing sentiment of the nurserymen, 
is well answered, and his attitude at the hearing before the 
the Ways and Means Committee in Washington, wherein he 
pleads that the present rate of duty be maintained, will 
no doubt receive the endorsement and approval of all broad¬ 
minded men. 
But the good work must not end here. The hearings 
before the Ways and Means Committee are but preliminary 
to the drafting of the bill and it will require the constant 
watchfulness of Mr. Rouse to see that the present rate of 
duties are written in the new bill without change. But even 
with its passage by the House, the Senate must concur before 
the bill becomes a law, and here again it will be necessary 
to be on guard to prevent an attempt to alter or reduce the 
present duties which the nurser^^men, as a whole, desire 
should be continued. 
The recent experience in regard to the 
QUARANTINE quarantine laws teaches a good lesson, 
LAWS and should be taken to heart as there is 
little doubt that had the nurserymen of 
the Middle West been with the Eastern nurserymen on the 
subject, quarantine laws with all their attendant humbug 
would never have been passed. 
The nurserymen of the Middle West did not realize 
what power for injury to their business was contained in 
their desire for federal inspection. The creation of a 
Frankenstein monster is easier than the control. The 
nurserymen would be willing to groan under the rules and 
regulations of the quarantine laws if there were less disease 
and pests to fight, but alas, he knows only too well they 
will be as prevalent as ever, and he doubts very much if the 
inspectors would recognize a new enemy if they saw one. 
Like the San Jose Scale and Chestnut Blight “ it is by their 
works ye shall know them,” and their works are not conspicu¬ 
ous until they are well established among us. 
The rabbit is not a plague in England or America, but it 
proved so in Australia. 
The San Jose Scale is not a plague in the Orient, but it 
proved so in the Occident. 
The measles are not much feared in our latitudes, but in 
the far north it becomes a deadly disease. 
The diseases and pests that are continually coming to 
light are not new ones; they are old ones that find hosts 
and conditions just suited to them, and multiply accordinglv 
until they complete their cycle of existence, or conditions 
change and they fall into innocuous desuetude. 
The Gypsy Moth is a scourge in New England, but it has 
yet to be proved that it would be a scourge in Pennsvlvania, 
or in all localities. Considering how long it has been in 
New England it seems strange that it has not spread all over 
the country. In any event, ver\^ few thinking men believe 
a quarantine will prevent its .sjiread, if the field is a ferble 
one for its propagation. 
Some day perhaps the bag worm will acquire extra¬ 
ordinary virility and become a menace. 
The fact is, man is continually upsetting the balance of 
nature and the inevitable occurs. He cuts down the forests, 
dries up the streams and like the goats on the Island of Juan 
Fernandez, destroys the entire flora and along with it other 
forms of life, and introduces a foreign flora and then is apt to 
get hysterica] if some form of hfe runs ffot at the expen.se of 
his interests. 
Science is purely and simply organized knowledge, and 
the scientific entomologist is »no more fitted to make laws 
governing the nursery business than the scientific nurseryman 
is to make them for the agriculturist. Each have just 
enough knowledge about each other’s business to make the 
use of that knowledge dangerous if used in an arbitrary’ 
manner. 
What is wanted is less hysteria, both political and other¬ 
wise, and more everyday business sense. 
The florist does not call for quarantine laws to protect 
him against mildew, black spot, stem rot, aphis, etc. An 
expert florist can produce a crop of any of these diseases in 
48 hours, and it stands to reason that if he knows how to 
produce, he also knows how to prevent. 
While the orchardists, nurser^nnen and foresters have not 
conditions so completely under control as the florist, the 
same rule applies. 
The scientists are doing good work in labelling out 
enemies and friends and experimenting with their control or 
increase, as the case may be. To this extent they are the 
good friends of the horticulturists, but beyond this their 
knowledge is not organized enough to act as dictator. 
Just at the present we have put the entomologist where he 
acts as governor to the horticultural interests. 
Are you satisfied with the results? 
“We find your paper very interesting and wish you every success.” 
F. Ferguson & Son. 
Hurstville, Australia. 
“I appreciate your journal very much!” 
Minn. 
N. N. OSLUND, 
Oslund’s Nursery. 
