298 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
of herbaceous plants might not he grown in the field and 
strong, well-rooted plants delivered. 
It strikes me that there is a good opening for some 
foresighted nurseryman who can advertise and deliver a 
full list of standard varieties of strong field-grown her¬ 
baceous plants. 
Martin Kohankie, of Painesville, Ohio, grew such 
plants hut specialized in hut a few things. Martin re¬ 
tired two years ago. The Meehans at Germantown, Pa., 
were also growers of strong field-grown clumps hut 
now their list seems limited. 
The herbaceous “specialists” of today all seem satisfied 
with the small pot plants or “skimpy” divisions. 
9 
At the National Convention in Chicago last June, I 
heard a lot of talk in the lobby of the hotel, of what we 
might expect, in about two years, in the line of low prices 
of nursery stock due to over planting. I heard so much 
about it that I began to think there might he something 
in it. “Harrison, of Berlin, Md., had planted a million 
apple stocks;” “Bill Ilgenfritz, of Monroe, Midi., had set 
out fifty thousand Spiraea Anthony Waterer “Ted Rice, 
of Geneva, N. Y., worked twenty-five thousand Catalpa 
Bwngeii” and so on. The future sure did look ominious. 
Within the last two weeks I have had occasion to 
visit a number of large nurseries, covering a territory 
between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi River. 
Did I find much surplus in either one or two-year-old 
stock? Verily, I did not. On the contrary, I found most 
of the two-year-old had been pretty well cleaned up and 
the nurserymen were already digging heavily into their 
last spring’s plantings. My notion now is that by the 
time spring is over the two-year-olds^ will be all gone, 
and the one-year stock will be mighty slim. 
There may and probably will be a heavy planting next 
spring, but next fall and the following spring will eat 
heavily into that. 
Then we must remember that general business condi¬ 
tions now are not particularly flourishing and in a couple 
of years, when these conditions improve, there should be 
an increased demand for nursery stock which will tax 
the energies of the nurserymen to meet it. 
I am glad I made that trip. The sun shines brighter 
to me now than it did when I heard all that “croaking” 
in the Congress Hotel lobby last June. 
There still appears to be a few who think that Quar¬ 
antine 37 of the Federal Horticultural Board will either 
be modified or entirely withdrawn. I am afraid these 
“hopefuls” will be disappointed. 
I was much interested in the talk given by W. N. 
Craig, of Boston, at the New York Florists’ Club, on this 
vexed problem. It appears from his own statement that 
he is neither a florist or a nurseryman, therefore, I as¬ 
sume he talked from the standpoint of an enthusiastic 
amateur. At any rate, he claims to be a “fighter.” He 
fought “Daylight Saving” and “Woman’s Suffrage” and 
claims that prohibition was undoubtedly the result of 
woman’s suffrage, and that it is his belief that the law 
would never be repealed, but apparently he did not 
voice a prediction as to the future of Quarantine 37. 
Evidently he does not give the Federal Board much 
credit for their efforts, and seems to be particularly 
“sore” because under present F. H. B. regulations it 
makes it exceedingly difficult for the “Amateur” to im¬ 
port horticultural products from Europe. 
Well now, from the standpoint of the “Amateur” per¬ 
haps he is right, but I question if today the nurserymen, 
at any rate, will very heartily endorse his statements. 
They have accepted Quarantine 37 as a fact, and upon 
assurance of the F. H. B. that it would not be modified 
or wiped out entirely, they have set themselves to the 
task of growing much of the stock which was heretofore 
imported. 
I think I am quite safe in saying that in the last two 
years, several hundred thousand dollars have been in¬ 
vested in propagating houses and frames, yes, and entire 
nursery projects have been started for the propagating, 
and growing of what might be termed “European Stock,” 
and only a beginning has been made along these lines. 
If, after these investments have been made, the F. H. 
B. should modify or “wipe out” Quarantine 37, it would 
raise a hue and cry that would seriously embarrass the 
members of the F. H. B. and the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture. 
I am of the opinion, from personal intercourse, which 
I have had with Dr. Marlat and the F. IJ. B. in general, 
that they are fair-minded men and that while they will 
stand by Quarantine 37 in its general outline, they are 
disposed to do all in their power to aid in encouraging 
production of European stock in this country and will 
give liberal permits for the importation of “Novelties” 
or stock needed for propagating purposes. The “Ama¬ 
teur” is not a propagator, and I expect nurserymen, as 
a body, are rather glad that the private consumer cannot 
import a lot of nursery stock, wholesale, as he did for¬ 
merly. 
NURSERY STOCK INVESTIGATIONS 
By L. B. Scott 
Meeting of the Southern Association of Nurserymen, 
Chattanooga, Tenn., September 7 and 8, 1921 . 
('Continued from Last Month) 
We are interested in another form of vegetative propa¬ 
gation which apparently has been given very little atten¬ 
tion, namely, propagation by root cuttings. We simply 
worked with the material we had assembled this year: 
French crab seedlings, Minnesota and Vermont seed¬ 
lings. The cuttings which gave the best results were 
about 2 to 3 inches in length and about %-inch in diam¬ 
eter. These were lined out in nursery rows in March 
and April and given the simplest kind of treatment. 
At the Chicago convention I was talking with a nur¬ 
seryman and telling him what we were attempting to 
do with root cuttings. He said “Mr. Scott, it isn’t prac¬ 
ticable, it can’t be done.” All I can say is, it has been 
done. We have been able to raise good trees and we 
believe it will prove practicable. , 
Our next step is to see whether we cannot propagate 
varieties, themselves, direct from root cuttings. Dr. 
Quaintance of the Bureau of Entomology has very kindly 
