248 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
approved by their committees until the nurserymen had 
had an opportunity for a hearing. The correspondence 
developed that the main point of difference between the 
Department and our committee was the question of quaran¬ 
tine, both foreign and domestic. 
Matters drifted along until the latter part of 
December, 1911, when your committee learned that 
there were to be held in Washington the annual 
meetings of the entomologists and the Association of 
Horticultural Inspectors, and that those organizations 
expected to discuss this same subject. We thought it best 
to be on the ground, and Mr. Irving Rouse of Rochester and 
myself went to Washington, and there met Mr. Stark and 
Professor Hunter, representing the Western Wholesale 
Association, and Mr. Wyman, representing the Massachusetts 
Nurserymen’s Association. A number of conferences were 
held with the committees of the entomologists, and a good 
many informal discussions took place at the hotel. We 
found, as we had before, that the quarantine question on both 
imported and domestic stock was going to be sticking point. 
Dur committee had consistently and steadily taken the 
position that it favored federal inspection of imported stock 
on the right lines, but that we were absolutely opposed to 
quarantine legislation. The discussions and conferences at 
Washington developed the fact that the opinions of the nur- 
servmen on the quarantine question were not absolutely 
unanimous, indicating a division of the nurserymen and there¬ 
fore a weakening of our forces, thus adding additional strength 
to the arguments of the Department officials. 
Quarantine in Respect to New Enemies 
The committee finally decided to stand for the quarantine 
provisions, because we found that we had to, provided they 
were limited to insects and diseases new to the United States. 
The Department officials had previously made the remark 
that they thought they could take care of the troubles then 
existing, but that they wanted some law that would 
enable them to meet the new troubles as they came up. 
We then made the suggestion that if they-would limit 
quarantine provisions to new insects and diseases, we 
would stand for it. That w^as agreed to. The previous 
bill was also amended by providing for the appointment 
of a federal horticultural board of five members, with the 
idea that we would perhaps be safer in the hands of five men 
than in the hands of one official in Washington. That 
suggestion came from Professor Hunter and Mr. Stark, and 
as they presented it, it called for a board of' seven, two of 
which should be nurserymen, two fruit growers, two horti¬ 
cultural inspectors, and the chief of the Bureau of 
Entomology. We couldn’t get much encouragement on the 
proposition that would take out of the hands of the Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture the administration of the law. They 
finally were willing to consent to this board, but insisted 
that it must be made up from the Department; and it was 
finally put in the bill that the board should consist of five 
members from the Bureaus of Entomology, of Plant In¬ 
dustry, and Forest Service. 
We were also able to secure at this time an agreement 
which provided that before any radical action was taken by 
this board or by the secretary, notice was to be given to the 
proper official of the nurserymen’s association, or any other 
association interested, and opportunity be given for a full 
hearing before this horticultural board. So that in a measure 
would prevent hasty decisions. This was the substance of 
the agreement that was reached verbally, and the matter was 
left with Mr. Marlatt of the Department, with the under¬ 
standing that the legal officer of his department was to draft 
a bill embodying this, -to be submitted to our committee 
before action was taken. Unfortunately, there was a little 
misunderstanding, and the bill was printed and introduced 
before it was sent to our committee. It did not limit the 
quarantine provision to new insects and diseases. We had 
considerable correspondence with Mr. Marlatt, most of the 
differences were straightened out without any difficulty, and 
finally, an agreement was reached in accordance with the 
verbal agreement of December. 
On February 19th a hearing was granted by the House 
Committee on Agriculture, at which our committee w'as 
represented by the chairman and Messrs. Dayton, J. M. 
Pitkin, and Thomas B. Meehan. Mr. Marlatt presented 
the bill as agreed on, and asked its favorable consideration 
by the committee. There were also present at that hearing 
a Congressman from California, and representatives from 
California fruit interests. We had a pretty lively hearing. 
The section limiting the quarantine provisions to new insects 
and diseases was strongly scored by the Californians, who 
said that they were just as anxious to avoid old troubles as 
new; for there were insects in the East that they didn’t 
want in California. They asked for inspection of nursery 
stock on the docks at the port of entry, and they wanted the 
most stringent kind of quarantine legislation. They went 
for us pretty hard, said the nurserymen were selfish, didn’t 
want to do anything except for their own interests, and they 
weren’t going to stand for it. We presented our arguments, 
but it was evident that the sympathy of the House Commit¬ 
tee was with the California people. 
After the hearing, our committee got together and went 
over the whole situation, and made up our minds that if we 
continued to fight on those lines we would get pretty thor¬ 
oughly beaten, and get a bill that would be a great deal worse 
than anything that had yet been considered; and that our 
best policy was to get together with the Department and 
agree on something that would suit the Dejiartment, so that 
when this bill was to be administered, they would have a 
somewhat friendly feeling toward the nurserymen, and be 
willing to be reasonable and fair so far as they could. 
As a sample of the way the California people were handling 
this matter, a few days later a bill was introduced by a 
Californian providing for inspection of all nursery stock at 
port of entry, and limiting the ports of entry through which 
nursery stock could be admitted to two ports in the United 
States, and both of those on the line between Mexico and 
California. 
It was thought best to agree with the Department on the 
bill which they wanted and in the shape that they wanted it, 
rather than to continue to fight and get something worse. 
That agreement was presented by Mr. Marlatt a few days 
later to the House Committee, and this committee adopted it. 
