84 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
shrubs, we got our first stock from western Europe, very 
naturally; and we have continued to grow many things 
that while excellent enough where they came from, are 
unsuited to our conditions. On the other hand, we have 
neglected almost altogether the many fine things that Mr. 
Wilson has brought to your Arboretum which should be 
quite at home here. To my mind, there is nothing so 
full of promise to American horticulture as the study and 
development of the Arboretum collection. We should by 
all means add to our list of broad-leaved evergreens 
every variety that will grow under our conditions. One 
thing that has served to delay the propagation of much 
of that valuable material has been the absence of a posi¬ 
tive and extensive demand for its production. You gar¬ 
deners can do much towards shaping the propagating 
lists of nurserymen. When you demand things, we will 
grow them for you. When the matter is left to the nur¬ 
serymen. they will make their propagating lists to fit the 
plate-book and the easy-to-get half-tones. It will be in¬ 
teresting to watch for your influence upon our future de¬ 
velopment of plant-life. In Great Britain and on the Con¬ 
tinent, the gardeners are the arbiters; here, the nursery¬ 
men are; and the aesthetic too often gives way to the com¬ 
mercial. 
And if you can cooperate with us in determining what 
should be grown for American gardens, you can assist us 
in securing leave to ship you our stock. And in the mat¬ 
ter of restrictons put upon the distribution of nursery 
stock, I think I can make the position of our Association 
very clear. We realize that, while our industry is very 
important to us, yet it is very unimportant compared with 
the vast agricultural and horticultural interests of the 
whole country; and therefore, whenever they are requir¬ 
ed for the protection of those larger interests, we read¬ 
ily acquiesce in all necessary and proper quarantines. But 
we are entitled to assurance that they are both proper and 
necessary; they should not be based on suspicion nor 
prompted by hysteria; their necessity should be deter¬ 
mined by known facts, ascertained through thorough in¬ 
vestigation by competent experts. Nor should nursery¬ 
men be singled out for the application of quarantines; 
but when quarantines become necessary, they should be 
made to apply impartially to all potential agencies of dis¬ 
tribution for the pests aimed to be excluded. Some nur¬ 
serymen have thought they found in the frequency of 
quarantines, a tendency to substitute quarantines for in¬ 
spection and certification. I think no one in authority 
would propose that as a policy; because it would mean 
admitting either the insufficiency of inspection or the in¬ 
efficiency of the inspecting staff. Quarantining a wdiole 
state is much more quickly done than inspecting even 
small lots of stock. If it should be seriously suggested 
that no system of inspection answers its purpose, and has 
to give way to a stoppage of business, the necessity to ap¬ 
propriate money to maintain the inspection service would 
be questioned. I wish to emphasize the importance— 
and I hope to see every one interested directly, emphasize 
the importance and the necessity—of thorough, efficient, 
inspection and to point out the danger of following the 
easiest way, to quarantines. We nurserymen ask just 
this; that our trees and plants be carefully inspected 
in a thorough and efficient manner by official experts 
competent to do the work; that all needed funds be ap¬ 
propriated for that; that stock found to be healthy, clean 
and free from pests and diseases, be certified as such; 
that we be permitted to ship such stock and required to 
destroy the unmerchantable. That, I think, is altogether 
reasonable. If anyone competent to render judgment 
shall say that it is impossible to secure that, then I have 
no hesitation in saying that within ten years we shall see 
no inter-state business in nursery stock; and probably 
little inter-state business. And it must not be overlooked 
that all plant life is closely related and that farm pro¬ 
ducts and food stuffs from the land fall naturally into 
the same class with nursery stock. The distribution al¬ 
most as much as the production of food stuffs is Amer¬ 
ica’s most vital problem. This subject is one that con¬ 
cerns every one of us and the whole American people. 
CROWN GALL 
The effect of crown gall upon a young apple orchard, L. 
Greene and I. E. Melhus (Iowa Sta. Research Bui. 50 
(1919), pp. 147-176, figs. 30).—This bulletin is a record 
of progress in a study of the effect of crown gall upon an 
apple orchard from the time it was set out until it became 
of bearing age. Data have been collected on the relative 
influence of various types of galls upon the annual growth 
of the trees and on the amount and position of the galls in 
relation to the growth and percentage of stand in the or¬ 
chard. The orchard in question was planted in 1912 with 
310 trees infected with crown gall and 246 normal trees. 
The varieties Wealthy and Jonathan were used in the ex¬ 
periment, and at planting time it was noted that the Weal¬ 
thy trees were infected with hard gall and very little 
hairy root, while the Jonathan were infected with both 
kinds of gall. 
At the end of five years it was found that more of tin' 
ciown gall infected apple trees were alive than normal 
trees, and the experiment confirmed the general idea that 
the variety Wealthy is more susceptible to crown gall 
than the Jonathan. In the experiment, the trees infected 
with gall did not show nearly so rapid growth as normal 
trees. Data are presented which show that crown gall 
greatly retards the growth activities of young apple trees, 
as manifested by a reduction in the amount of increase in 
trunk diameter, and in the number, length, thickness, and 
weight of twigs. It is claimed by the authors that twig 
measurement is a much more accurate and valuable index 
of the effect of crown gall than trunk diameter growth. 
Large galls appeared to be more injurious than smaller 
ones. Small galls on the underground portion of the tree 
did not seem to injure the twig growth materially. Fruit 
spurs developed earlier on badly infected trees than on 
the normal trees. Galls occurring on stock and union ap¬ 
peared to be equally harmful, while those on secondary 
roots were less so, and hard galls were less injurious 
than soft ones. 
The State quarantine of Minnesota with regard to the 
White Pine Blister rust has been amended so as to permit 
the shipment into Minnesota of all currant and gooseberry 
bushes stripped of leaves with the exception of the culti¬ 
vated black Bibes Nigrum. 
