138 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
tience and self sacrifice that is necessary to produce the 
master workmen so necessary in horticulture. 
Since Quarantine 37 has become law there has been 
much said about the United States being able to grow all 
plants that have hitherto been imported. 
UnqiKistionahly the potential possibilities are here but 
neithei the trained workmen nor the generations of ac¬ 
cumulated experience passed along from master to jour¬ 
neyman and apprentice without which we can only pro¬ 
duce something to sell but not to be especially proud of. 
Our scientific rulers have decided there is danger in 
importing the produce of the skilled workmen of Europe 
so the country now depends upon our own efforts and like 
the store clerk we shall be offering the public something 
“just as good” until we have raised or imported growers 
who think more of their plants than their pay envelope. 
In the meantime, our gardens, orchards and parks must 
take a lower level of horticultural beauty, that is, unless 
the women say no. 
When we realize the fact that plants 
PLANTS HAVE have no national boundaries, it seems 
NO NATIONAL foolish to attempt to legislate and con- 
BOUNDARIES trol their movements. Perhaps this’ 
statement may be set aside as ill-con¬ 
sidered when there is apparently so much evi¬ 
dence that the transportation of plants intro¬ 
duces conditions and effects that have tremendous econ¬ 
omic results, and no sane man woulld attempt to advo¬ 
cate an uncontrolled and free exchange of plants the 
world over without restrictions. The restrictions, 
however, should he such that are reasonable and based 
on actual and full knowledge of their necessity. The 
activities of men, require laws to govern them, but it 
can hardly be said the same of plants. 
Here we are dealing with creation over which we have 
practically little or no control. The natural laws are 
working quite independent of any that may be enacted 
by Congress. The deep thinker can only come to one 
conclusion, and that is that man is troubled with su¬ 
preme egotism. He seems to think that the whole of 
creation was made especially for his benefit, instead of 
he being merely a portion of it. 
At times of epidemic or great disaster from what 
might be called natural causes it is brought home to him 
the fact that the natural laws at least work quite inde¬ 
pendent of any that he might put into operation. It is 
quite true he can study, analyze, and to a certain extent 
protect himself from adverse causes and conditions, but 
after all he is extremely helpless, and is only a part of 
the animal creation which he attempts to govern. 
It is true he can take the Wild Crab and througb gen¬ 
erations develop the Baldwin and Delicious Apple, or the 
wild single Bose and produce ultimately the beautiful 
double blossoms that fill the florist’s window, but he 
cannot make the cocoanut grow in Montana, except un¬ 
der artificial conditions. The same laws which prevent 
him doing this also prevent him from controlling insect 
pests and diseases, except within very small limits. 
The numerous laws that are now being enacted in 
connection with plant life would seem to indicate that at 
least he thought he could do a good deal more, but in 
reality he is only doing so in his own mind. There is no 
record where he has been able to even check the prog¬ 
ress of disease or insect pest upon plants. These 
scourges, if they may be called so, come and go according 
to the particular cycle of conditions under which they 
exist. He may possibly keep his own particular plot of 
ground clean and that is about the limit, but that these 
limits will ever extend to national boundaries is even 
foolish to consider. 
In looking back, the San Jose Scale, the Potato Beetle, 
the Gypsy Moth, Brown-tail Moth, plagues of Aphis, 
Chestnut Blight and the endless fungus diseases are 
really all part of creation, which are linked together. If 
one or the other becomes dominant it is due to conditions 
which favor it doing so, not through accidental or inten¬ 
tional introduction of it into the country. 
TENNESSEE HOUSE BILL NO. 910 
A bill is before the Legislature in Tennessee providing 
for registration before anyone can ship nursery stock, 
plants and bulbs into the State. 
The registration will cost $10.00 and every agent so¬ 
liciting orders within the State of Tennessee must secure 
a license even if the stock is to be shipped from outside 
of the state which will cost $1.00. 
If this bill becomes law it will prevent a citizen of the 
State from going over the border line, purchasing a plant 
and taking it home with him. 
There are beginning to be as many restrictions and 
regulations governing the traffic of nursery stock as if 
it were in the rum class. 
RAFFIA 
The embargo on raffia still continues but the U. S. War 
Department has ordered shipments, due to arrive this 
week, released. These will be the first to arrive since a 
few months after the war began. 
James McHutchison & Go., New York, one of the lar¬ 
gest importers of this material in the country, turned over 
its entire stock to the government when this country en¬ 
tered the war. It was used for camouflage purposes in 
France but will now begin to go along peace time chan¬ 
nels and be used by the nurserymen. 
MYSTERIOUS DISEASE ON APPLE TREES 
EXPLAINED 
Considerable concern is being shown by orchardists in 
central and northern Ohio over the fact that limbs of 
apple trees are dying and large cankers are appearing 
in the crotches of the trees. This is not any mysterious 
disease, says Frank Beach, extension horticulturist of 
the College of Agriculture. It is merely a further indi¬ 
cation of the winter injury caused in 1917. 
It is recommended that the dead wood be cut off and 
that the bark about the cankers be cut back abruptly to 
the live bark sometime between now and June. The 
cankers should he treated with a thick paint of white 
lead and raw linseed oil. 
The trees that show considerahle injury should be fer¬ 
tilized with manure or nitrate of soda. 
