THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
325 
old sacking or waterproof paper. Do not use common 
thin paper, it will wet and soon go to pieces and the different 
varieties will all become mixed up, especially if the person 
who opens the package is inexperienced in opening plants. 
It is generally better to label every bunch, you are sure of 
their being all right if the package gets broken open enroute. 
Crates and boxes must be so made that they won’t easily 
split and go to pieces while they are in transit. A narrow 
piece of tough half inch liunber should always be nailed cross¬ 
wise on the ends of all boxes and crates. 
The nurseryman is supposed to have grown, dug and put 
up good plants in good shape, true to label. It is the duty 
of the express Company the railroad company, or the mail 
service, to deliver them to the customer in practically as 
good condition as when they left the grounds of the nursery¬ 
man. This they have generally done in the past with few 
exceptions, compared to the vast amount of packages they 
have handled, and which they are very liable to do in very 
much better shape in the future than they have ever done in 
the past. The plants arrive at the express office in the home 
town of the buyer. It is now up to him. 
CHESTNUT TREE BLIGHT 
The chestnut tree blight is undoubtedly a serious menace 
to a large portion of the timber growth of this State. Con¬ 
siderable money has been spent by the State in combating it. 
The State Commission created for this purpose demanded 
of the late Legislature $275,000 for the continuance of its 
work. The Legislature appropriated $100,000. On the 
ground that so small an appropriation was worse than useless 
the Commission suggested to the Governor that he should 
veto the bill, and he did so. Thus the Chestnut- Tree 
Blight Commission goes out of existence. 
It is perhaps just as well that the Legislature and the 
miffed Commission between them have put an end to this 
paternalistic fight on the enemy of the trees. Unless we are 
mistaken, a large part of the expenditures of the Commis¬ 
sion has been devoted to treating and felling infested trees 
on private property. There is no good reason why the 
owners of chestnut timber lands should not preserve their 
property at their own expense. 
The outlay of State money to study the blight, to dissemi¬ 
nate information concerning the best means of dealing with 
it, and to curb its ravages on property owned by the State, 
is eminently proper. These matters should be functions of 
the State Department of Agriculture. The treatment of 
trees not owned by the vState is hardly within the line of its 
duties. If it were, we should have a Potato Bug Commis¬ 
sion, with an appropriation of a few hundred thousands 
to spray the potato fields of the farmers; a Black Rot Com- 
mis.sion to fight one of the worst enemies of the grape growers; 
a Cucumber Beetle Commission, and so on without limit— 
except the limitations of the Treasury. 
If the spread of the chestnut blight should work injury 
to the innocent owners of chestnut timber who do all that is 
possible to protect their property, but are victims of the care- 
essness of adjacent owners, there are ways of dealing with 
such carelessness through legislative penalization. In the 
meantime, since the Commission has gone out of business, 
let the State conduct an inexpensive campaign of education 
and urge private enterprise to cope with the ])c.st.—“Edi¬ 
torial” Philadelphia Record. 
There is sound common sense in the above editorial and 
although presumably written by a layman most nurserymen 
will endorse it. 
The same remarks apply equally well to Government 
Forestry experiments. There is abundance of territory 
owned by the state that could use all the tree seedlings they 
could possibly grow without competing with the legitimate 
business of the nurserymen by supplying seedlings to private 
parties. 
HORTICULTURE UP-TO-DATE 
Most nurserymen are familiar with the old-fashioned 
idea of clipped Yews and other forms of topiary art. Ac¬ 
cording to the catalogue of P. J' van der Pol & Company, 
Boskoop, Holland, which has just come to hand this style 
of gardening has not entirely died out now but it is taking 
the form of roses trained to represent electric tram cars, 
Bleriot areoplanes, lady’s bicycle, automobile and Zeppelin 
airship, besides such back number styles as chairs, umbrel¬ 
las, tables, ships, etc. 
Of course, the designs consist largely of frame but it 
shows considerable patience and skill to train the roses 
to represent such articles. It also indicates enterprise on 
behalf of the nurseryman. Perhaps the least said about 
them from the standpoint of beauty the better. 
“THE MONTHLY SUMMARY OF COMMERCE AND FINANCE” FOR MAY, 1913, GIVES THE FOLLOWING REPORT OF 
IMPORTS OF PLANTS, TREES, SHRUBS AND VINES. 
ARTICLES 
MAY— 
ELEVEN MONTHS ENDING MAY— 
1912 
1913 
1911 
1912 1913 
Quantities 
Values 
Quantities 
Values 
Quantities 
Values 
Quantities 
Values Quantities | Values 
Plants, trees, shrubs and vines: 
Fruit plants, tropical and semi- 
tropical, for propagating 
nnmncpQ^ 
2,213 
5,113 
112,679 
2,386 
774 
102,888 
j 
24,820 . 
5,793 
1,823,198 
1,357,570 
Bulbs, bulbous roots, or corms, 
cultivated for their flowers or 
foliage. M .. dut.. 
All fliit. 
139 
42 
1,622,902 
1,080,496 
216,152 
1 
1,718,746 288,629 
1,237,040 . 
Total. 
120,005 
106,048 
.J 2,703,398 
. 
2.980,606 . 
3.186.561 
