THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
85 
Continued from page 75. 
their places amid lavish decorations of flowers and ( volumi¬ 
nous strains of sweet music. Covers were laid for thirty-eight, 
the largest attendance in the history of the Association. 
The menu shared the honors with the speech making 
which followed. Mr. Frank Freeman of Phoneton acted as 
toastmaster, and in a few felicitous remarks introduced the 
speakers of the evening. Mr. McNary of Dayton responded 
to the toast “Our Association” and closed his remarks with 
a parody on the Raven, for which due apology was made to 
Mr. Poesbird. Mrs. T. J. Dinsmore, wife of the President 
of the Association, then entertained the company with a 
recitation, and was followed by Mr. Broomhall of Troy, 
Ohio, with a speech full of inspiration and encouragement' 
The affair was a success in every sense of the word, and 
was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone present. 
TREATMENT OF SAN JOSE SCALE. 
An interesting statement which appears in Bulletin No. 131 of 
the Maryland Experiment Station is this: 
“The control of the San Jose scale in Maryland has reached the 
point where spraying for this pest each year is considered by the 
progressive orchardist as routine work. The home-made lime- 
sulphur wash is thoroughly established as an effective and cheap 
remedy. In addition it has fungicidal properties which usually 
control the peach leaf curl. 
“This bulletin gives results of trials with a number of proprietary 
lime and sulphur washes, as well as miscible oil mixtures. The 
home-made formula of lime-sulphur, the Niagara brand commercial 
lime-sulphur, and the Rex brand of lime-sulphur have given excel¬ 
lent or good results. The author concludes that miscible oils may 
be used, but with considerable caution, and his experience indicates 
that there is occasional injury from the use of these oils when applied 
to x>each trees. 
“In reference to the Lime and Sulphur washes, the author says 
that the “results of our test with these solutions on apple and peach 
were very satisfactory. Observations indicated equally as good 
results in controlling scale where the concentrated lime-sulphur 
solution was used by growers.’’ 
THE TARIFF QUESTION. 
Mr. Editor 
I note with interest the different opinions on the tariff question 
of nursery stock, and while it was amusing to Mr. Kelsey that Mr. 
Carnegie has suddenly seen “the great light,” Mr. Kelsey is pro¬ 
bably still more amused since our library philanthropist has slightly 
changed his mind and turned out to be the doubting Thomas as to 
the tariff question on his favorite products. It is quite natural in 
this century that a nurseryman who does not grow any roses, but 
simply buys what he needs to fill his orders, does not care for much 
duty on such stock, the same is true with other stock while the 
nurseryman wdio grow any particular line of stock, such as roses, 
clematis, evergreen seedlings, etc. prefer a thorough protective 
tariff on such stock. Now from an outsider’s point of view, it 
seems that nurserymen should all stand solid united for a pro¬ 
tective tariff on all stock that is being grown in this country, 
even cuttings and seedlings that can be grown here, should re¬ 
ceive ample protection. The article of Mr. Ouwerkerk although 
favoring a low tariff, gives a pretty fair opinion that a high tariff is 
absolutely necessary on all stock that can be grown here success¬ 
fully. Take for instance hydrangea’s, spirea’s, Berberry J hun- 
bergii, and hundreds of other varieties of shrubs, we can raise them 
here just as well as in any foreign country. American grown roses 
from the Eastern and Middle states are better adapted for this 
climate than the imported stock. It is true the Holland rose bush 
is generally nice looking but the wood is too soft and pithy to 
stand our dry winds, and as a general rule three or four days after 
planting the rose bush is dead nearly to the ground, this may not be the 
case so much in New Jersey or there abouts; but it certainly is ti ue in 
the Middle and Western States except in parts of the Pacific Coast 
States, where the atmosphere contains considerably more moisture. 
I believe that the American nurserymen should grow more 
plum, cherry and apple seedlings. Even if the cost of growing them 
would make them higher than the Imported stock, we would gain 
several points, chief among them would be that we could give more 
work to our best help, as the stock could be pruned and graded in 
the winter time, and if the stock is raised in your own nursery, you 
have it in your own hands to keep it free from insect pests, and 
furthermore you do not run the risk of receiving stock that is 
frozen, dried, rotted or sprouted too much. The foreign nursery¬ 
men have the advantage in the matter of skilled help over the 
American nurserymen, first because the American nurserymen in 
general do not grow half of their planting stock, hence have little 
or nothing to do in the winter. 
.Second the American laboring man is more independent and 
while the foreign laborer earns about $120 per year, the American 
laboring man in the nurseries earn that same amount in three 
months or less, and a large portion work in shops, factories or on 
farms the other nine months of the year. The nurseries in the middle 
Western States are a Godsend to the farmers for just about the time 
the nurserymen get through with a large portion of their help, the 
farmers are anxious to hire them for haying, harvesting and thresh¬ 
ing and again when the farmers are through with them, the nursery¬ 
men are again glad to hire them for their fall work. 
In quite a number of the foreign countries, including Boskoop, 
the men are required to work from 15 to 18 hours per day during 
the shipping season. Under such conditions men cannot feel as 
anxious to work as those who work ten hours and take their rest 
properly. During my trips among nurserymen and florists, I find 
indeed a large portion of the men in charge are foreigners, and I have 
met with many Hollanders as well as English, Scotch and German. 
The conditions in all foreign countries are so different to those in 
America, that one cannot place even the best of the old countries on 
an equal basis with America. The wages of the laboring people in 
Holland, Germany, Belgium, France, England, in fact throughout 
all Europe are so low, that it is practically a hopeless task to try to 
save a few cents. Switzerland is the only European country where 
laboring people are moderately prosperous. 
Mr. Ouwerkerk says: “If the capital spent for duties by the 
nursery trade was turned into labor,” etc. (see page 43). To make a 
rough estimate in round figures, let us suppose the Government 
receives $500,000 annually for duties on nursery stock. This 
amount is spent by the Government for various purposes, and if not 
collected from foreign shipments, it must be collected from the 
American people directly through taxation. Again the American 
nurserymen would be forced to sell their stock at from 20 to 50% 
less than the present prices. The question then is: Are the 
American nurserymen making such enormous profits that they 
could afford this cut and still pay their help $1.50 to $2.00 per day ? 
It is not the incompetence of the American nurseryman that he only 
grows 18,000 roses per acre while the Hollander grows 80,000 per 
acre. The American nurseryman plants his stock far apart, as 
land is rather cheap, and this enables him to save labor by cultivat¬ 
ing with horses; while the Boskoop nurseryman plants just as close 
as possible, as land is very high priced, he works it by hand because 
labor is cheap. 
I have noticed much improvement among the American nursery¬ 
men all over the States in the last decade. They are growing much 
better stock than formerly. They are not using gooseberry bushes 
for rose bushes any more! Here few strawberry trees are sold, even 
the coreless apple was not accepted in the circle of grand fellowship! 
Nurserymen are employing more skilled help than years ago, and 
while once more referring to Mr. Ouwerkerk s article as he states, 
skilled labor receives about 60 cents per day in Holland, our Amer¬ 
ican Nurserymen pay from $2.00 to $5.00 per dav for skilled help. 
A little one horse wholesale trust among the nurserymen will not 
harm the business, but as soon as the retail nurserymen form a 
gigaptic trust to bleed the poor farmer and millionaire then and not 
until then let us all cry for free trade on all stock which these retailers 
are growing and let us then demand a high tariff on all stock which they 
imported to sell, which they cannot grow any way. Prosperity. 
