110 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
DIGGING AND PACKING 
Mr. W. E. Campbell, President of the Elm City Nur¬ 
series, New Haven, Conn., spoke before the course in 
nursery practice at Massachusetts Agricultural College 
on February 28th giving a lecture and demonstration 
on the digging and packing of nursery stock. He said 
it is necessary to give protection to the roots ol nursery 
stock from the moment the plants are dug until they are 
fully packed, and in fact until they are transplanted 
into their permanent positions. It is important to take 
special precaution that roots are not skinned or bruised 
and that patches of bark are not torn off the trees. 
Many times a fine specimen which has taken 12 or 15 
years to grow is ruined by carelessness in handling. 
Evergreens are harder to transplant than deciduous 
trees and shrubs and should be usually handled with 
balls of earth. In digging evergreens it is desirable to 
dig away from the plant. Large trees should be bur- 
lapped and the burlap must be put on very tight. 
It is usually undesirable to prune trees and shrubs 
when they are being packed, as the customer prefers to 
do his own pruning. However, it is essential that most 
stock should be pruned before it is planted. 
For packing Mr. Campbell recommended rye straw 
where it can be used, also sphagnum moss and shingle 
low. He estimates that the average cost of packing on 
retail orders is 7% of the value of the stock. He then 
demonstrated all methods of packing, from small mail 
orders to car lots. Parcel post and express were recom¬ 
mended as the best methods of shipment. 
- \ 
February 25, 1922. 
National Nurserymen: 
Secretary Hoover recently asked the Attorney-General 
for his informal opinion on certain questions relating to 
the activities of trade associations and one of the ques¬ 
tions was: 
“6. May a trade association, in cooperation with its 
members, engage in cooperative advertising for the pro¬ 
motion of trade of the members of that association en¬ 
gaged in the particular industry; and may the associa¬ 
tion engage in such form of promotion by furnishing 
trade labels, designs, and trademarks for the use of its 
individual members?” 
The Attorney-General replies: 
“I have serious doubts about the advisability of the 
latter part of the sixth paragraph. I can see no object¬ 
ion to cooperative advertising designed to extend the 
markets of the particular article produced or handled by 
the members of an association but when the several pro¬ 
ducers or dealers use uniform trade labels, designs and 
trademarks, it seems to me that the inevitable result 
would be a uniformity of price. Where two competing 
articles are advertised in precisely the same way and 
bear exactly the same label or trademark, it certainly 
would be difficult for one to be sold at a higher price 
than the other, although its quality may be superior.” 
Note the last part of Secretary Hoover’s question: 
‘May the association furnish trade marks for the use of 
its individual members?’ And note the objection of the 
Attorney-General. While it does not exactly fit our ex¬ 
perience with the “trustworthy” trademark, it does im¬ 
ply, as some of us have claimed, that the public would 
be deceived by such uniform trademark. 
In our case there is no uniformity as to price, but the 
trademark does lead the public to believe that there is 
uniformity in quality. It looks like another good reason 
for discontinuing its use. 
(Signed) CENSOR. 
THE AGRICULTURAL CONFERENCE AT 
WASHINGTON 
It was not to be expected that any definite results in 
the way of accomplishment could be reported from the 
Agricultural Conference held at Washington last month. 
It is, however, a cause for gratification to know the 
interests of the nurserymen were ably presented by Mr. 
J. Edward Moon, who was appointed by Michael R. Cash- 
man, president of the American Association of Nursery¬ 
men. to represent that body. 
The conference was made up of a group of men un¬ 
known to each other and drawn from all corners of the 
United States, to do a big job. Quick organization and 
familiarity with the correct procedure was necessary, in 
other words a representative “must know the ropes,” 
otherwise his presence would be ineffective. 
The organization arrangements effected by the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture were highly desirable and expe¬ 
dited the work considerably although it may have given 
the impression to some that everything was cut and dried 
and under the control of “the powers above.” 
In representing the nurseryman Mr. Moon took for his 
guide the outline of legislation to be sought by nursery¬ 
men. as approved in the 1920 convention. 
He said: 
“Among the measures desired was some form of indemnity 
that will compensate nurserymen when their plants shall be 
destroyed by officials to arrest the spread of insect pests or dis¬ 
ease, or when their plants shall be denied a market for the same 
reasons. There was a committee of the conference on Credits 
and Insurance, that included many prominent bankers of note. 
It seemed to me this committee was the place to make this re¬ 
quest, so I secured an appointment with a sub-committee, and 
went with Mr. McHutchison to present our case. 
“We found that the committee was drafting a report of rec¬ 
ommendations, looking toward an insurance to compensate 
farmers when their crops were lost from drought, hail and 
other elements. We succeeded in interesting this Committee 
sufficiently to have their recommendations broadened, so that 
nursery stock injured by hail could come within the hail pro¬ 
visions on the report, and then they did widen, at our request, 
the report sufficiently to recognize the hazard that exists in a 
loss from pests, disease and quarantines. The recommenda 
tions of this committee were subsequently approved by the 
Conference, and will be found in the published proceedings. The 
securement of these additions to this report was the most out¬ 
standing single accomplishment of your representative. 
“As the matter now stands, the subject is merely contained 
in recommendations. Our association should continue back of 
the recommendations, by appearing before the Agriculture Com 
mittee of Congress at the proper time, to see what can be done 
towards securing the legislation necessary. 
“The Committee on Crop Reports and Statistics seemed to be 
one section of the Conference into which we might inject our 
desire for crop reports of nursery stock. I was not as successful 
as in the other committee, but do feel that the report brought in 
by the committee on Crop Reports and Statistics was so enthus¬ 
iastic in its desires for additional statistics on all kinds of ag¬ 
riculture, that we stand a better show as a result of that report 
to secure the crop reports that we want, than at any time. 
Members will recall that for two years our request for these 
crop reports have been contained in an item of the budget of 
the Dept, of Agriculture, and that the committee of the House 
