THE NATIONAL NUESERYMAN 
71 
control treatment and they are very large especially in small or¬ 
chards and household^ plantings where spraying is not always 
practiced. This insect alone, undoubtedly has cost this country 
during these years upwards of 1100,000,000. 
The oriental peach moth which gained entry in 1912 with im¬ 
ported ornamental cherry trees from Japan has just begun its 
spread and depredations. It affects practically all deciduous 
fruits and bids fair to be a much more destructive pest in the 
long run than the San Jose scale. 
'The Japanese beetle, brought in about the same time as the 
peach moth, has already obtained such firm foothold that in 
view of its habits and powers of prolonged flight. It is probably 
incapable of extermination and will no doubt ultimately over¬ 
spread the United States. It attacks not only practically all 
fruits, but also many garden vegetables and corn. The amount 
of damage which it will ultimately cause to American agriculture 
is undoubtedly tremendous. It is worthy of note that this beetle 
in the opinion of the experts of this Department and of the State 
of New Jersey who have investigated the matter, was brought in 
by the Dreer Nursery with importations of iris from Japan. The 
insect first appeared in the heart of the Dreer Nurseries and has 
spread from this center over an area approximately of 25,000 
acres, involving four townships in New Jersey opposite Philadel¬ 
phia. 
The annual cost to this country of the San Jose scale and the 
probable ultimate annual cost of these other two more recently 
introduced oriental pests, would probably pay for the total Impor¬ 
tations since the foundation of this Republic of ornamental, nur¬ 
sery and florist stock. The declared value of the importation of 
such stock for the year 1914 was only $3,606,808, and it should 
be understood that the plant stocks still permitted entry repre¬ 
sent much of this value. 
These insects are mere examples of a vast horde of introduced 
insect pests. Upwards of 100 different important injurious in¬ 
sects to agriculture and forestry have been thus introduced, and 
in addition to these, hundreds of other minor insect pests. The 
total annual loss occasioned by these introduced Insect pests to 
our national forests and to farm crops, etc., from careful esti¬ 
mates which have been made, very much exceeds a million dol¬ 
lars a day, in other words, approximately $500,000,000 a year. 
It is true that many of these foreign insect pests have come 
in independently of nursery stock, as, for example, the Hessian 
fly, the pink bollworm of cotton, and Efuropean corn borer. 
Nevertheless the bulk of the introductions have been with living 
plant material of all sorts. 
Examples of Diseases Imported with Plants. 
Losses correspondingly large are chargeable to introduced 
plant diseases. Nursery stock and other plant importations are 
responsible for the entry of such important diseases as the chest¬ 
nut blight which has already destroyed the chestnut forests over 
much of eastern United States and threatens the existence of 
the entire chestnut growth of the country, the white pine blis¬ 
ter rust, a disease already widespread in the Eastern white 
pine area, and the citrus canker recently introduced from .Japan 
and Asia and now threatening the very existence of much of the 
American citrus development of Florida and the Gulf Coast. 'The 
attempt in Florida and elsewhere in the United States to elimin¬ 
ate this disease has necessitated the burning of nurseries and 
hundreds of established orchards. Giant oil torches have been 
devised which will lickup and utterly consume large fruiting 
trees in a few minutes and entire orchards in a few days. This 
means the destruction of property representing thousands of dol¬ 
lars of expenditure and years of labor. Furthermore, Congress 
has appropriated and is still appropriating considerable sums to 
aid in the control of these pests. 
Inadequacy of Special Quarantines. 
To prevent the entry of like plant pests quarantines and re¬ 
strictions have been applied under the Plant Quarantine Act to 
all impcrtant dangers as they appear, and in this piecemeal 
fashion some twenty restrictive orders and quarantines are now 
in force against foreign plants and plant products. Such piece¬ 
meal action only can be taken, however, when the enemy is 
known, and gives no security against such unknown or unantici¬ 
pated enemies as the San Jose scale, the oriental peach moth, 
and the alfalfa weevil. 
Necessity of General Quarantine. 
It certainly would seem to be good business and practical com¬ 
mon sense to stop as far as possible such dangerous introduc¬ 
tions to the agriculture and horticulture of this country. This 
is the primary object of the action taken in Quarantine 37. The 
experts of this Department are convinced that it will be possible 
very promptly to produce in this country all the plants prohibit¬ 
ed by this quarantine, and this opinion has been indorsed by 
leading nurserymen and florists. 
After having studied this subject for many years and after giv¬ 
ing earnest consideration and practical trial to the possible al- 
ternatves of inspection and disinfection of plant imports, the De¬ 
partment and the country at large have reached the conclusion 
that the only possible solution of this problem, which is constant¬ 
ly becoming more serious with the widening of commerce, is in 
the policy of practical exclusion of all stock not absolutely essen¬ 
tial to the horticultural, floricultural and forestry needs of the 
United States. The conclusion is absolutely forced that no 
other system will give adequate protection to the great fruit and 
agricultural interests of the country, and these interests are so 
paramount as to fully warrant the restriction prescribed at this 
time in Quarantine No. 37. 
The main lines of this quarantine are undoubtedly justified, 
but it is entirely proper at any time for the interests affected to 
make any suggestion of modification which may appeal to such 
interests as being warranted to meet essential needs and which 
can be granted without opening up dangers which Quarantine 
No. 37 is designed to guard against. Correspondingly, should it 
develop that the entry of any of the plants or classes of plants 
now permitted should be accompanied with dangers which can¬ 
not be otherwise safeguarded, on such showing the restrictions 
must necessarily be extended to cover such plants. 
In this connection the Department now has prepared an 
amendment to Regulation 3 permitting the use of sand, soil, or 
earth in packing the bulbs specified in Item 1 of that regulation 
when such sand, soil, or earth has been previously sterilized in 
accordance with methods prescribed by the Federal Horticultural 
Board. 
C. L. Marlatt, Chairman of Board. 
TRADE PRICES TO LANDSCAPE GARDENERS 
The National Nurseryman, 
Flourtown, Pa. 
Gentlemen: 
We wonder if there isn’t something you can do to get 
the nurserymen who sell wholesale largely to stop quot¬ 
ing landscape gardeners wholesale trade prices, when 
they are just as willing to pay a higher price. We have 
been doing business with a landscape man in this sec¬ 
tion for quite a little while, but since the armistice was 
signed and railroad conditions have opened up, we find 
that there has been a change. We recently quoted this 
party on a list of stock; and when we received a part of 
the order at our prices, and when we asked him what 
had become of the balance of the order, he said that it 
had gone elsewhere, that other nurseries had beat us to 
it, or something like that. On further inquiry he stated 
that “-cut under you over 50% on most things.” 
This landscape architect is in sympathy with us, and 
wound up his letter by saying,—“I don’t blame you for 
your stand and wish you luck.” 
What we think of nurserymen who do this kind of bus¬ 
iness we cannot tell you, because it wouldn’t he fit to 
print. Even the fellows who stand on top of freight 
trains in freezing weather and turn the wheels to tighten 
up the brakes have got sense enough to get a living price 
for what they do! 
' Yours truly, 
6’ 3” 
WILL SOME NURSERYMAN PLEASE ADVISE? 
A correspondent wants the opinion of practical nursery¬ 
men as to the best two horse digger to use for digging 
out such trees as Elms, II /2 to 2 inch caliper. The soil is 
heavy clay. Is it possible to dig such trees with a two 
horse digger or is it necessary to use four? 
