286 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
The Workings and Results of the New Federal Horticultural 
Law as It Relates to the Growers, the Importers 
and the Nurserymen 
“The Plant Quarantine Act”—which forms the subject of 
this paper, went into effect October ist, 1912, and from that 
date, no nursery stock can be imported into the'United 
States without a permit from the Department of Agriculture. 
The enforcement of this law is in charge of the Federal Horti¬ 
cultural Board—a body organized for that purpose, and every 
importation is made subject to the Rules and Regulations laid 
down by the Government officials comprising this board. 
Now, I want to tell you why the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture insisted upon the passage of this law, why it was per¬ 
sistently introduced into Congress in various forms and 
different titles for several years, and why the Nurserymen just 
as strenuously objected to its passage. 
The Act was not primarily aimed at the Nursery business. 
The Department wanted the power to protect the country by 
quarantining against the “Mexican Fruit Fly,” the “Potato 
Wart,” the “Date Palm Scale,” the “Mediterranean Fruit 
Fly,” and other pests, which few nurserymen ever heard of, 
and which do not appear on nursery stock. They also 
wanted the power to regulate Interstate Commerce, and 
prevent the shipping of nursery stock without proper safe¬ 
guards from the Eastern States affected with the Brown-tail 
and Gypsy moths to other states not affected by these pests 
and to prevent the importation of Pines, which might con¬ 
stitutionally be affected with the “White Pine Blister Rust.” 
These six quarantines are the only ones in effect up to this 
date; the last two only affect the nmsery business. 
The nurserymen objected to the passage of this law 
because they assumed it was aimed at them and their busi¬ 
ness. They never objected to proper inspection, but they 
did strenuously object to any Government officials having the 
right to quarantine their out-going or incoming shipments. 
They also objected to the clause which gave Bureau officials 
the power to make later Rules and Regulations for the carry¬ 
ing out of the Act, because this gave these officials absolute 
and dictatorial control over the nursery business. As much 
of their raw material cannot be produced here, but is im¬ 
ported from properly inspected European Nurseries, the 
nurserymen and florists wanted no red-tape restriction or 
quarantine placed on their importations. They felt that the 
multiplicity of State Inspection laws, the requirements of 
permits and licenses to do business in different States were 
harrassments enough and instead of adding one more law, 
they wanted the Federal law, if possible, to include and 
replace the many conflicting onerous State laws in force. 
They felt that the laws should be rendered less rather than 
more burdensome, and that as Nurseries—foreign and 
domestic—^were necessarily the really clean reports in the 
vegetable kingdom, all subject to rigid inspection, their 
business should be protected rather than harrassed by Federal 
laws. 
In spite of all protests from the Legislative Committee of 
this Association and individual members, the Act became 
law last August. Do you know what this means? It 
means that if you contract with a French firm for your 
supply of seedlings, your raw material—the Government can 
clap a quarantine on the Frenchman in December, and pre¬ 
vent him from shipping them. You are no better off if you 
import seeds to grow the seedlings yourself, because the 
Government has the same right to quarantine against the 
seeds and even if you get your seeds and grow your seedlings, 
the Government still has the right to quarantine your State, 
your town, or your nursery and prevent you shipping out 
those seedlings after you have grown and sold them. The 
law gives the Government the same power and control over 
all nursery shipments, import or domestic. 
No American nurseryman can see a case or bale go into 
Interstate Commerce, and no Foreign shipper can ship a case 
or bale to America with any assurance that some of the 
infinitude of details have not been overlooked and will result 
in the loss of the stock. The restrictions which surround the 
shipment of nursery products are so complicated, that the 
employees of Transportation Companies, which also are 
amenable to the laws, do not know whether or not the 
exactions have been fully met and are apt to hold up the 
shipment to make sure. 
Fortunately, the Federal Horticultural Board, which is 
charged with the enforcement of this law, is at present com¬ 
posed of five practical men—^men who will not deviate from 
their duty to their Department and Country as they see it, 
but yet are always ready to listen to protests, to suggestions 
and are willing to co operate with the object of making the 
operation of the law as little burdensome to nurserymen as 
possible. Professor Marlatt is Chairman of the Federal 
Horticultural Board; he really was the father of the Plant 
Quarantine Act, and I am convinced if he knew as much 
about the nursery business—as a business, and its volume, 
when he wrote this Bill, as he does now, many of its unneces¬ 
sary and most drastic features never would have been 
incorporated in the Act. 
The Act finally passed August 20th. This was just at the 
commencement of the shipping season; in fact, large ship¬ 
ments of Azalia Indica were then on their way across from 
Belgium. You can imagine in what a bad fix the New York 
Import houses were in with over a million dollars worth of 
orders for stock embraced by this Act, on their books. As 
Secretary of the New York Importers’ Association, I called a 
special meeting of that body—sending a representative to 
Washington in the meantime, with orders to stay there and 
when two delegates from the Importers’ Association got to 
Washington —we found that the Rules and Regulations were 
already promulgated and in the Government printers’ 
hands. They were so drastic and impracticable that had they 
gone into effect as they were, it would have meant a calamity 
to the European and American nursery business. We h ad 
the printing stopped; got the Federal Horticultural Board 
