224 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
ployees do not make errors who do not ship out goods be¬ 
low their own standard, hut in all such transactions, 
they arc willing and eager to adjust to the customers 
satisfaction. 
To make such exceptions or accidents, cases lor the 
Vigilance Committee is unwise, except to act as arbiters 
failing settlement. 
On a separate page we publish a 
MODERN letter from P. F. Ridsdale, exe- 
AIMPLICATION cutive secretary of the American 
OF AN OLD LAW Forestry Association, Washing¬ 
ton, D. C. 
Clearing away the forests to make way for the agri¬ 
culturist was one of the big jobs ol the pioneers and 
early settlers. 
Perhaps the hardships and labor experienced by our 
forefathers in accomplishing this work, has left an hered¬ 
itary antipathy or at least a lack of appreciation of the 
absolute necessity of trees and forests to our very exis¬ 
tence. 
Judging from the government reports, the danger line 
towards, exhaustion of our timber supply has long been 
past, and it is high time we took the back track, and in¬ 
stead of destroying the forests, restore them. 
The national government supplemented by the state 
governments will have to be the means by which the lar¬ 
ger phase of the work will have to be accomplished, be¬ 
cause it is a work that is vital to the life of the country. 
To bring home the importance of tree planting to 
every citizen we could hark hack to a very ancient law in 
England, that required every freeman or yeoman to 
plant a yew tree in his enclosure. 
The reason of this was, the wood of yew was used for 
making the bows for the archers. 
Tax us baccata or the yew was supposed to have 
formed part of the forests in Britain in prehistoric times. 
The yew is poisonous to cattle or it is not uncommon 
for them to die after eating it and for Ibis reason the 
trees had to he in* enclosures. 
It is not uncommon even to this day to see very old 
yew trees in castle court yards, church yards and even 
in the yards of very old cottages, doubtless, echoes of the 
times when the yew tree furnished the implements of 
war. 
A modern application of such a law would require 
every citizen to plant a tree every year to insure the wel¬ 
fare of these our United States. 
AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSSOCIATION 
lilt) II Street, N. W., Washington, I). C. 
July 23, 1920. 
Gentlemen: 
We are again writing to ask for your support in our 
endeavor to save our forests, restore those which have 
been cut and to provide forests for our future needs. Ur¬ 
gent need for the adoption of measures for perpetuating 
our forests impels us to again ask you to become a mem¬ 
ber of our Association. 
Every citizen is directly concerned 
in the condition 
which may he summarized as lollows: 
—Our forests are being cut or destroyed three to four 
times as fast as new forests are growing; 
—Only one-fifth of our original forests are left; lumber 
costs are high as a result; 
—Pulp wood from which paper is made is scarce and 
costly; 
—Watersheds are endangered by the disappearance of 
forests; recreational uses of them demand their upkeep; 
—Conditions will grow worse unless there is adopted a 
constructive program for the better protection of forests 
from fire and disease; for encouragement of regrowth 
and the creation of new forests on cut-over forest land. 
Our Association is conducting a nation-wide campaign 
for such a program. National and State legislation is 
needed; co-operation of timberland owners, wood-using 
industries and individuals, is essential. 
We need your help and the help of every good citizen 
in furthering this movement. You are invited to become 
a member of the Association. Your membership will in¬ 
crease our income and enable us to carry on our cam¬ 
paign for perpetuation of our forests. Membership en¬ 
titles you to our. large and well illustrated magazine 
American Forestry each month. It keeps you informed 
about forest conditions, about trees, birds, animals and 
kindred subjects. It is of particular value in every home. 
Please join! Apply for membership to the American 
Forestry Association, Washington, D. C. 
Yours, for the perpetuation of our forests, 
P. T. Ridsdale, Executive Secretary. 
A NEGLECTED GROUP OF PLANTS 
Because that group of plants known to botanists as the 
Heath Family which includes the Rhododendrons, Aza¬ 
leas, Blueberries, Kalmias, etc., does not respond to 
rough and ready propagation and culture, it has been 
much neglected by American nurserymen. It is true 
they have handled them in large quantities but have 
never propagated and grown them to any great extent. 
They have imported the hybrid Rhododendrons and 
Azaleas, merely acting as jobbers and have handled col¬ 
lected native plants, thereby detroying more than they 
have produced. 
Broadly speaking, in their native state, this group of 
plants grows on peaty and sandy soil of an acid nature 
the extreme opposite to the limestone soils and loams 
that produce the best crops in most all other cultivated 
crops, and it can readily he seen why they have not been 
a success. They require special conditions and special 
treatment. There are so many localities with soils that 
are splendidly adapted to growing these plants that it is 
hard to understand why a nursery has never been estab¬ 
lished to specialize on them. The demand for the differ¬ 
ent members of this group of plants need not be ques¬ 
tioned, the market is unlimited. 
Perhaps Quarantine 37 will prove to he the necessary 
stimulus, lor importations preceding it consisted largely 
of this class of plants. 
Belonging to this group of plants are the Blueberries, 
Huckleberries, Billberries as they are variously called 
or botanically, the Vaccinium. It is interesting to note 
