04 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
Agriculture. Furthermore, the Board is not the sole or even 
necessarily the important advisor of the Secretary with respect 
to such quarantine and regulatory actions. Every subject of quar¬ 
antine or regulation is referred to and discussed by the great 
body of plant experts of the Department. As is well known, 
there are in the Department of Agriculture hundreds of plant ex¬ 
perts covering every phase of plant production and plant im¬ 
provement—men who are recognized throughout the country as 
leaders in their plant specialties in horticulture, floriculture, and 
forestry, and it is from this body of both technical and practical 
men that the Secretary and the Board get advice and informa¬ 
tion with respect to all proposed quarantine or other restrictions 
on plant movements. 
In additioon to this expert advice within the Department, the 
act provides that, prior to quarantine action, and after due 
notice, public hearings shall be held at which any person in in¬ 
terest may have opportunity to present any phase of the matter 
or any argument for or against the proposed action. The final 
decision of the Department on quarantine and related matters is 
based on the information and judgment, therefore, of its own 
plant experts as well as on the facts presented at these public 
hearings, and on all other available information . The provision 
for the consideration by a committee of plant experts of all re¬ 
quests for special permits for entry of plants otherwise excluded 
has already been described. 
Plant Inspection in Washington Objected to 
Strong objection has been made to what is described as the 
requirement for sending all plants to Washington for inspection 
and certification. In point of fact, this requirement applies only 
to the importation of so-called “prohibited plants” for reproduc¬ 
tion purposes and not at all to the classes of plants which are 
permitted unlimited commercial importation. The objection to 
inspection in Washington of plants imported under special per¬ 
mit has a sound basis, viz., delay, expense, and rarely some risk 
to the health of the plants. This requirement, however, is 
based merely on the lack of funds to establish adequate inspec¬ 
tion offices and forces at numerous ports of entry. In making 
provision for the entry of the so-called “prohibited plants” for 
introduction and reproduction purposes it was necessary in order 
to guard against risk of entry of new pests, to provide for a 
very adequate and thoroughgoing inspection, and, if necessary, 
disinfection of such plants. The available funds have permitted 
the establishment of but one such equipment and this only by 
taking advantage of the existing trained corps of inspectors un¬ 
der the Board at Washington. The Department has been per¬ 
fectly willing, and has endeavored to secure appropriations 
which would enable it, to establish properly equipped inspection 
points at the two or three main ports of entry. This difficulty, 
which is the one principally complained of, is therefore not one 
of intention and is one which it is hoped will soon be remedied. 
Such enlargement of inspection facilities was, in fact, begun 
some time since by provision for inspection at San Francisco of 
imports under special permits from trans-pacific countries. 
An investigation of the delays complained of indicates that for 
the most part they are the result of neglect of the brokers or 
others at the port of entry to make provision for the prompt for¬ 
warding of the shipments, or are due to transportation difficul¬ 
ties over which the Board has no control. In point of fact 99 
per cent of the importations coming to Washington for inspection 
get to ultimate destination with a minimum delay and without 
any material increase of injury to the plants. The considerable 
injury in the case of a few importations was due to faulty pack¬ 
ing or delays in transit and not to the fact of their detention 
for inspection purposes in Washington. In other words, these 
plants were dead or in a dying condition when they reached the 
inspection offices of the Department. Better packing and better 
service at the ports of entry have largely eliminated this source 
of complaint. The successful establishment of hundreds of new 
reproduction enterprises in half of the States of the Union in¬ 
dicates lack of foundation for the criticism of injury or loss 
on account of the existing inspection requirements. 
Will all Plants Ultimately be Barred Out? 
By the use of a portion of a sentence which has a perfectly 
plain meaning in connection with the report in which it occurs, 
it is represented in this propaganda that the Department of Ag¬ 
riculture intends ultimately to bar out altogether all plants from 
abroad. The sentence in question occurs in a report prepared by 
the Bureau of Plant Industry, long antedating the quarantine 
(February 25, 1918), and made in response to a request from the 
Board for advice as to the advisability of excluding in the near 
future or after a suitable period for adjustment all ornamentals 
or other plants with balls of earth about their roots, and also in¬ 
formation on the exclusion of nursery stock of all kinds from 
Asia and Africa and other little-known and little-explored parts 
of the world. This request was based upon the known risk of 
entry of pests in such soil and the impossibility of disinfecting 
such soil, and the known exceptional risk which comes from 
plants from Asia and Africa, and other little-explored regions, 
as illustrated by the many now plant enemies already established 
in the United States from such sources. In connection with this 
request the following significant statement occurs: “It is under¬ 
stood that provision should be made for importations by this 
Department for experimental or introduction purposes.” Fur¬ 
thermore, this report of the Bureau of Plant Industry contains 
also in its conclusions the following statements: 
That provision be made for the admission of limited 
numbers of new varieties or novelties. 
That the Bureau of Plant Industry take steps for the 
inauguration of a specific project designed to aid the 
nursery and florist industries in matters of introducing, 
propagating, and growing stocks which under regula¬ 
tions of the Board may be excluded. 
That a public hearing be called for the purpose of dis¬ 
cussing the action here proposed. 
The lack of any basis for this misrepresentation is perfectly 
apparent and the ridiculousness of the argument based upon it 
hardly needs rebuttal. There certainly is no agency in the 
United States that is better acquainted than the Department of 
Agriculture with the need for securing any useful and valuable 
plant which may be had in foreign countries and which is cap¬ 
able of introduction and establishment in the United States. This 
need has found expression in this Department in a host of use¬ 
ful plant introductions and in the establishment now for many 
years in the Bureau of Plant Industry of the Office of Foreign 
Seed and Plant Introduction. Through this office and other De¬ 
partment agencies some 10,000 different kinds of foreign plants 
have been imported during the last 25 years, many of which have 
proven to be highly useful plants and have already taken their 
place permanently in the agriculture and horticulture of this 
country. Furthermore, as already noted, the quarantine regula¬ 
tions are specifically drawn to make such introductions possible, 
and clearly indicate the continuing necessity for such introduc¬ 
tions. All the pronouncements of the Federal Horticultural 
Board and of the Department with respect to this quarantine are 
specific and clear, and indicate no purpose whatsoever now or at 
any other time of an intention to bar any foreign plant necessary 
for the establishment of any new or desirable fruit or ornamen¬ 
tal. 
Botanic Gardens not Materially Restricted by the Quarantine 
It is asserted in this propaganda that “The beneficial research 
work of the great institutions of America, such as the Missouri 
Botanical Garden in St. Louis and the Arnold Arboretum of Har¬ 
vard University, have been either stopped or disastrously 
checked so far as such operations are dependent upon plants ob¬ 
tained from beyond the borders of the United States.” The pos¬ 
sibilities for the entry of any new or desirable plant whatsoever, 
already discussed, indicate the absolute lack of basis of this 
charge. The Department of Agriculture recognizes that insti¬ 
tutions of a public or semi-public nature such as the leading 
botanic gardens of the country are on a different basis from the 
ordinary plant importer, and are deserving therefore of special 
consideration. For example, the bond which is required of the 
ordinary importer is not required of such gardens or in connec¬ 
tion with any importations made by other recognized public in¬ 
stitutions, such as agricultural colleges and experiment stations. 
In view of the 650 odd permits which have been issued to pri¬ 
vate importers and the establishment of hundreds of successful 
plant propagation enterprises throughout the United States by 
importations made under these permits, the ridiculousess of the 
charge that botanic gardens are necessarily materially affected 
in their development by this quarantine is apparent. Certainly 
botanic gardens with their superior facilities can make impor¬ 
tations under the quarantine just as successfully and readily as 
they have been made by hundreds of private importers. 
The chief objection to the quarantine on the part of botanic 
gardens has been to the requirement of sending their importa¬ 
tions to Washington for inspection and treatment. If, as in¬ 
dicated elsewhere, the Department secures funds to provide for 
inspection at the principal ports of entry, this objection will ne¬ 
cessarily largely disappear. 
Importations by botanic gardens and similar institutions do 
not differ in point of risk from those made by other agencies. 
On the other hand, the effort of such institutions to get new and 
strange plants from the little explored regions of the earth 
vastly increases this risk. The plant explorers of the U. S. De¬ 
partment of Agriculture have gone over much of the ground 
