THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
693 
Correspondence 
fruit and plant JNotee 
NURSERYMEN’S KINDNESS ACKNOWLEDGED NEW FOREIGN SEED AND PLANT INTRODUCTIONS 
The following communication from the mayor of Love¬ 
land, Colo., in acknowledging the contribution of the visiting 
nurserymen on behalf of the little boy, the unfortunate 
victim of the automobile accident, recognizes the hearty 
generosity of the visitors and shows that their kind act was 
received by a woman who would deeply appreciate the 
thoughtfulness which prompted the gift, and who would 
benefit by the money consideration itself: 
Loveland, Colo., Tune 27, 1010. 
Mr. J. W. Hill, 
Des Moines, Iowa. 
Dear Sir: 
Your letter containing draft for $135.00 received and we 
should have replied sooner. I turned the draft over to 
Mrs. Walker, mother of little Scott, and she wished me to 
thank you for your kindness. The little fellow died on 
Monday morning following the accident. The woman is 
poor and has a number of little children to support. 
Henderson who was running the car paid all expenses. We 
all, very much appreciated the thoughtfulness of the visitors 
as we have had a number of inquiries regarding the little 
boy. 
Yours very truly, 
J. W. McMullen, 
Mayor Loveland, Colo. 
A CORRECTION 
Sir: 
We would like to draw your attention in a friendly way 
to a paragraph on page 620, June issue, stating that in 
England, nurserymen are obliged to take out a license to do 
business!! 
This is quite a mistake. No license whatever is required 
by nurserymen, truckers, florists, fruit growers, farmers, or 
any allied traders. Neither have we ever heard any sug¬ 
gestion as to the advisability of such license. 
We can trace, however, how your error arose. In April, 
1909, the “Poisons Act” came into force, and this Act 
requires that all dangerous horticultural poisons such as 
arsenate of lead, arsenic, nicotine, etc., should be sold 
either by qualified druggists, or else by dealers who have 
taken out a poisons license. 
The object of this license is, of course, to keep track of 
stores who sell poisons. Such licensed dealers have to 
observe various regulations as to marking goods “poison¬ 
ous,” and selling them to trustworthy people, etc., etc. 
We may claim to have some authority on the subject, as 
we are the oldest (and we believe the largest) Insecticide 
house of our kind in Europe. We are sole British agents 
for Swift’s Arsenate of Lead (which is sold under the 
Poisons Act). 
Yours very truly, 
London, Eng. Strawson & Company, 
By W. J. Strawson. 
In the inventory of seeds and plants imported from July 
1st to September 30th, 1909 (Bull. 176, U. S. Bureau of 
Plant Industry), some introductions of unusual interest are 
pointed out. 
Of especial interest and problematic value is a collection 
of peach, apricot and cherry seeds from the Himalayas (Nos. 
25894-96). 
The great value of a variety of cherry, which is hardier 
in fruit bud than other cherries, is conceded by the horticul¬ 
turists of the Northwestern States. Those who are breeding 
or experimenting with cherries will therefore be interested in 
the introduction of Prunus tomentosa (No. 25880), which 
has been especially recommended by Professor Macoun, of 
the Experimental Farm at Ottawa, Canada. Trees of this 
species have been placed in the Upper Mississippi Valley 
Plant Introduction Garden at Ames, Iowa, for further trial 
and propagation. 
The oriental Myrica nagi (No. 25908), an extremely 
interesting fruit plant, whose dark, wine-colored fruits are 
exceedingly ornamental, has not been given the attention 
which it deserves. There seem to be a number of varieties 
of this fruit, and, although it is a slow-growing tree and late 
coming into bearing, it is deserving of a trial in Cailfornia 
and northern Florida. 
An importation of seeds of the “Queensland nut,” 
Macadamia ternifolia (No. 25845), calls attention to the 
possibilities of cultivating this plant in parts of California 
and southern Florida. Trees are now growing in southern 
California which have born nuts for the past two seasons. 
In Sidney the nuts are much liked and retial for is. per lb. 
DUPLICATING NAMES 
One of the greatest mistakes in the nursery and seed business, is 
the' attaching of the same name to several different kinds of fruits, 
vegetables or other goods that are handled by the same firm. 
One little matter of this kind has just been forcibly brought to 
my attention by the receipt of a letter from a customer in New Jersey 
who complains that he ordered “Oswego” style of berry baskets and 
crates and got instead of four Oswego Berry crates and 500 baskets 
—a berry crate and 500 “Oswego” strawberry plants. Now it hap¬ 
pened in this way,—we fill very few orders for berry crates and 
baskets but we are sending out “Oswego” strawberry plants every 
day, as it is a very popular variety with me. The girl who booked 
the order and wrote the tag, had never heard of Oswego berry 
baskets and crates. Only the other day, we sent 250 Columbian 
raspberry plants to a party in Syracuse when he really ordered 250 
Columbian mammoth asparagus plants. One of our specialties is 
the Plum Farmer raspberry and these usually go in to nine-tenths of 
all the orders that go out. A few years ago we run on to a valuable 
new oat and some one suggested the name “Plum Farmer for this 
new oat and it was so named. Well the amount of trouble and 
mistakes this caused us was considerable and we simply had to drop 
the oat, as the profits on handling them were more than off-set by 
the losses we sustained in having to re-fill orders that got the wrong 
article. There is a long list of duplicate names of fruits, and in 
future, it would h>e well for introducers to change the names when 
by chance a new variety they got hold of has attached to it a name 
that is now claimed by some well known fruit or vegetable. We 
have the Cardinal raspberry and a strawberry by the same name. 
