44 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
erable list of what is commonly known as field-grown florist’s 
stock. 
ADMISSION OP NEW AND RARE PLANTS AND NOVELTIES. 
The Board makes provision for the importation, through the 
Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction in the Department 
of Agriculture, of new plants, seeds, bulbs, etc., for experimental 
and scientific purposes and for propagation in this country. The 
Board also makes provision for the importation in limited num¬ 
bers of novelties from all parts of the world under safeguards 
that will assure their freedom from dangerous diseases and 
insects. 
The machinery for this work is already organized in the Office 
of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction; and, while it will not be 
practicable to undertake large commercial importations for pri¬ 
vate firms, it will be within the province of the Office to handle 
the necessary limited sihpments of novelties that may be brought 
in for propagation here. While lily bulbs, narcissus, hyacinths, 
and related bulbs, fruit stocks, and rose stocks will be admitted 
under regulations, it will doubtless be the policy of the Federal 
Horticultural Board to exclude these plant materials when it 
would seem assured that the commercial needs of the country 
can be met by home grown supplies. 
THE PROBLEM OF STOCKS. 
The Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction is primarily 
interested in the broader constructive problems of stock pro¬ 
duction in this country, and in the securing of types of stocks 
for he principal fruit crops and for some of our more important 
ornamentals like the rose. . It recognizes that the whole question 
of stocks is a broad and complex one and that much work will 
need to he done to secure light on the many questions involved. 
We are beginning to appreciate more and more that our future 
successful fruit culture is intimately associated with the problem 
of stocks. With the exception of the grape, no far-reaching 
studies have been made on stocks in this or any other country. 
We have followed certain empirical practices in the past, but as 
competition becomes greater and the demand for the highest 
grades of fruits and plant products increases, we must know 
more of the actual relation of stocks to quality of product, to the 
length of life of the tree or plant, to adaptability to soil and cli¬ 
mate, to resistance to disease and insect attacks. 
The question of stocks would seem to resolve itself into two 
main groups of problems; (1) The practicability of producing in 
this country the millions of ordinary apple, pear, plum, and 
cherry stocks which hitherto have been largely secured abroad. 
(2) The systematic study of stocks with a view to their improve¬ 
ment and their better adaptability to the wide variety of condi¬ 
tions and needs that exist here and are likely to develop in the 
future as our great fruit industries become more complex. It is 
imperative that if our fruit industries are to he maintained, there 
must be full supplies of the usual or ordinary stocks. The se- 
suring of special stocks is a long time process and will have to 
proceed slowly and carefully, building up cautiously on the foun¬ 
dations we already have and must maintain. 
Pear growing is not one of our paramount fruit industries, yet 
it is safe to say with no other fruit is there a greater proportion 
of trees lost each year which must be replaced if normal produc¬ 
tion is to be maintained. Fire blight is the chief cause of the 
loss of pear trees in this country, and while it is highly desirable 
to find stocks, or to develop stocks, that may in a measure pre¬ 
vent some of the losses to pear growers from fire blight, the 
pressing need is to maintain the supplies of French and Japanese 
seedlings required to keep the number of trees up to normal. If 
stocks are to be reproduced in this country to take the place of 
those hitherto secured abroad, it would seem proper that efforts 
should be made by the Government to aid those who are anxious 
to know where the work can best be done and how it may be 
done to the best advantage. The problems involved are so com¬ 
plex that private interests can not well handle them. 
Briefly then, the chief problems connected with the produc¬ 
tion of commercial stocks of apple, pear, plum, cherry, and rose 
are to find regions and soils in this country where such stocks 
may be commercially grown and to demonstrate on a commercial 
scale that such stocks are equal to—or better than—those grown 
abroad. We use the word “commercial” here in the sense that 
the procedure throughout should be such that the results secured 
may be satisfactorily applied by the trade. Such work as is pro¬ 
posed will need the help and cooperation of the trade. Nursery¬ 
men have not been idle in the past in this field. As recently 
pointed out by Mr. William Pitkin and others, nurserymen have 
tried for years to develop the business of producing fruit tree 
seedlings but, with the exception of the apple, no material pro¬ 
gress has been made. It has been further pointed out that many 
nurserymen prefer to import French apple seedlings and pay 
more for them, believing that thereby they would secure better 
blocks of better trees. 
Correlated with *he problem of commercial stock production, is 
that of securing seeds for stocks. There are no contemplated 
restrictions, so far as we are aware, on the importation of fruit 
seeds. The restrictions brought about by war conditions, and the 
general situation with respect to seed for stocks, show the need 
for developing our own home supplies. This is a long time prop¬ 
osition, as there are few recognized sources of supply here, such 
as exist in Europe. 
DEFINITIONS OF THE PLANTS AND PLANT MATERIALS 
ADMITTED UNDER RESTRICTIONS 
1. LILY BULBS.—Herbaceous perennials with scaly bulbs, 
belonging to the genus Lilium, and consisting of numerous 
species and varieties. 
2. LILY OF THE VALLEY.—Horizontal rootstocks, “pips,” 
and clumps (without soil), of Gonvallaria majalis. 
3. NA,RCISSUS.—Hardy bulbs of three species, Narcisfsus 
Pseiido-uarcissiis (the common daffodil), N. hulhocodimn (hoop-pet¬ 
ticoat daffodil), and V. tazetta (polyanthus narcissus), repre¬ 
sented by numerous varieties. 
4. HYACINTH.—Hardy spring-flowering liliaceous bulbs of 
many varieties derived chiefly from five species—namely, Hya- 
ciittJiiis orienialiH, H. aniethystinns, H. azureus, H. Uneatus, and 
H. fuHtlgiutus. Used for outside planting and forcing under glass. 
5. TULIP.—Hardy and forcing bulbs of the genus Tulipa, fam¬ 
ily Liliaceae, imported chiefly from Holland. 
6 . CROCUS.—Spring-flowering and autumn-flowering plants, 
all members of the genus Crocus, with solid bulbs or corns, rep¬ 
resented by numerous species and varieties. 
7. FRUIT STOCKS (free stocks).—Seedlings or plants or 
parts of plants upon which a scion or bud may eventually be set. 
Carries neither grafts nor buds. 
8 . Cuttings—Severed portions of plants used for propagating 
purposes by rooting in sand, soil, or other medium. 
9. SCIONS.—Severed portions of plants which may be me¬ 
chanically inserted on other plants (free stocks) for propagating 
purposes. 
• 10. BUDS.—Severed leaf buds with bark and wood attached, 
used for propagating purposes. 
11. ROSE STOCKS.—Seedlings or rooted plants of the genus 
Rosa, upon which cultivated varieties of the rose may be grafted 
or budded. 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
Much, very much, could be said about the Garden 
Magazine as to its high quality as a hortcultural maga¬ 
zine, the practical common sense of its reading matter, 
the artistic make-up of its pages but all these things need 
not be recorded as they are patent to everyone capable of 
judging. We are not particularly interested in throw¬ 
ing bouquets at the editors and publishers for fear they 
may become egotistical and charge the nurseryman more 
for advertising space. Still we should be ready to give 
honor where honor is due. 
Apart from its value as an advertising medium for nur¬ 
sery products, it deseives all the credit it gets and pos¬ 
sibly a little more for the work it isi doing as an educa¬ 
tional factor in the market development for the products 
of the nurseiy. 
No one knows bettor than the retail nurseryman the 
cost of educating the public by means of catalogues and 
such literature that goes out of the nursery office. 
It is true it is done with a sellish motive yet it invar¬ 
iably helps his competitor. 
The same is true of the Garden Magazine, and while it 
may he true it is jmblished as a commercial proposition, 
it will perhaps not hurt the management and will do the 
nurserymen good for the latter to recognize the splendid 
work this magazine is doing in preparing the ground, 
sowing the seed of interest in horticulture and so creat¬ 
ing the demand for the nurserymans’ products. 
