THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
147 
and demerits be passed upon by the unbiassed as well as the 
interested. 
We believe in establishing such a system 
INSPECTION of inspection and as will prevent the 
OF IMPORTS. introduction from foreign countries of 
injurious insects and diseases. A quaran¬ 
tine system should be operated just as rigidly as against the 
enemies of animal life. We have received our full share of 
scales and bugs with the good things from other lands. 
“We’ve got ’em, and the man who doesn’t fight ’em goes 
under, that’s all.” 
No one in the nursery or orchard business can excuse 
inaction or faulty methods on the score of a lack of oppor¬ 
tunity to secure knowledge or advice. The country is 
flooded with bulletins giving descriptions, remedies and 
instructions for the control of these enemies, so in our 
opinion it is “up to the growler.” When new enemies arise 
or appear, the investigators of the experiment stations are 
available. 
We should, in our opinion, however, have an independent 
board of examiners who might be called upon by those 
nurserymen who are alive to the advantage of expert 
assistance and advice. This department should be under 
federal control and entirely independent of state influences. 
Such a department would assure uniformity in the adminis¬ 
tration of regulations for the control of nursery and orchard 
enemies. But in the last analysis, the problem rests with 
the nurseryman himself. 
Most people are agreed that the inspec- 
NURSERY tion of nurseries as conducted at present 
INSPECTION. is little more than a form. It guarantees 
no real immunity from the worst enemy 
of the orchard, the San Jose scale. Cer¬ 
tainly so far as small infestations of this scale are concerned 
it does not mean much. The inspector says he found none. 
He does not say that the stock is uninfested. Many grow¬ 
ers accept the certificate as something wdiich guarantees 
immunity. In this respect, his confidence rests on false 
security, and to that extent he is misled. Would he not be 
more keenly on the lookout for dangerous pests if he were 
not lulled into a position of false security by this certifi¬ 
cate? 
Another aspect of the case is this: What is the value of 
inspecting and fumigating stock intended for planting in 
scale-infested districts? Whether the stock is clean or 
whether it is infested, the planter, if he is to succeed, must 
spray anyhow. 
Have we not arrived at the time when each grower must 
attack his individual problem himself? He should know 
what he wants in nursery stock and know how to care for it 
after it is planted. The nurserymen supplying poor stock 
will soon be weeded out by a process of natural selection. 
There are those who say the small planter must be protected. 
In our opinion, the small planter must take his chances. 
The large grower is forced to protect his interests by those 
measures which control the spread of fungus and insect 
enemies. It makes little difference to him, as a matter of 
fact, whether the small grower sprays or not. 
This doctrine may sound heretical, and would certainly 
be classed as rank heresy ten years ago. But times have 
changed, and we are approaching a new era, an era in which 
fruit growing must be handled as a business man handles his 
enterprise. Neglect and haphazard methods will rule a 
careless man out of business, and the sooner this kind of 
men is relegated to the side lines the better for the business. 
A warm discussion is going on just now in 
ARTIFICIAL at least one of the floricultural papers in 
VERSUS regard to the results secured from the 
NATURAL so-called hand pollination versus natural 
CROSSING. pollinating methods. This discussion 
relates mainly to the improvement of the 
Gladiolus. The man who has been successful in improving 
the gladiolus by combining forms in an orderly and syste¬ 
matic fashion naturally believes in his method. On the 
other hand the man who has worked in a wholesale manner 
and planted large quantities of seeds, dealing in this whole¬ 
sale way, should expect to secure a larger number of prizes 
even though his method is somewhat haphazard. This 
leads us to say that there are two general plans along which 
the plant breeder may work. If he desires to work in a 
wholesale way,he follows the Burbankian plan of making con¬ 
ditions favorable for the natural interchange of pollen in an 
extensive way. If he desires to be sure of each step and to 
know absolutely the parentage of his plants, he will select 
the forms which combine in themselves the desirable 
characteristics he wishes to unite and perpetuate, and make 
carefully controlled crosses; This is undoubtedly the most 
satisfactory way. The scope of one’s efforts is somewhat 
limited by this method, for just about so much work can be 
done, but in the long run greater satisfaction results, for 
one need not guess at the parentage of his productions but 
he can feel sure that they are the product of certain definite 
combinations. This knowledge is valuable in itself. 
The preponderance of evidence at the present time is 
probably in favor of the wholesale method, for the reason 
that more persons have used this, and then nature herself 
has adopted it, and through it has given us many of the 
selected forms of fruits and flowers which we cultivate today. 
That there is any intrinsic influence following the transfer 
of pollen, in one way or the other, is improbable. If we are 
to work towards definite ends, profiting by our experience, 
and for the purpose of securing special products, then we 
must select the parents and control the pollination process. 
PERSONAL AND GENERAL. 
Messrs. H. M. Simpson & Sons of Vincennes, Ind., report 
an excellent year for cherry stock and that sales have ex¬ 
ceeded those of any previous year. There is still on hand 
a quantity of one and two year old trees. 
MR. E. W. KIRKPATRICK IMPROVING. 
We are sorry to learn that former President of the 
American Association of Nurserymen, Mr. E. W. Kirk¬ 
patrick, of McKinney, Texas, has been a victim of neuritis 
for some little time. Latest reports are that he is improving 
slowly. 
