FEDERAL HORTICULTURAL BOARD. 355 



ORDER RESTRICTING THE ENTRY OF COTTON LINT. 



Under the authority contained in section 5 of the plant quarantine 

 act an order placing restrictions on the importation of cotton lint into 

 the United States, and regulations governing the importation of 

 cotton lint under said order, were issued April 27, 1915. The object 

 of this order is to prevent the entry into the United States with raw 

 cotton of the pink bollworm and other injurious insects. In my 

 report last year reference was made to the finding of living larvss of 

 the pink bollworm in seed contained in baled Egyptian cotton and 

 of the consequent danger of the unrestricted use oi such cotton. The 

 regulations provide for the entry at northern ports only of foreign 

 cotton under permit and for a system of notifications which enables 

 the board to keep track of all imported cotton until it is consumed. 

 No person, firm, or corporation is allowed to purchase, use, or store 

 foreign cotton until a license therefor has been secured from the 

 Secretary of Agriculture, and all licensees agree to fuJly comply with 

 the requirements of the regulations, including the screening of all 

 windows and other openings in the warehouse, opening and picker 

 rooms, and the burning at the close of each day of all picker waste and 

 seeds. 



In addition to the precautions which are now being taken, all 

 cotton arriving in this country on and after February 1, 1916, must 

 be disinfected at port of entry by fumigation with hydrocyanic-acid 

 gas in a vacuum, under the supervision of an inspector of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, before it will be released. Extensive experi- 

 ments have demonstrated that such fumigation is entirely practicable 

 and thoroughly effective in destroying all contained insect life, the 

 gas penetrating to the innennost parts of the bale. Tests of yarn 

 and fabric made from cotton so treated failed to show any injurious 

 effect whatever as a result of this treatment. 



Subsequent to the discovery of the occurrence of infested seed in 

 baled Egyptian cotton, cotton importers and cotton manufacturers 

 have heartily cooperated with the department in its effort to prevent 

 the estabhshment of the pink boUworm in the United States, and 

 during the past year practically every miU using foreign cotton has, 

 at the suggestion of this department, been burning the picker waste 

 from such cotton. 



The cotton-lint regulations referred to above do not apply to the 

 States of Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, Durango, Chihuahua, Tamaulipas, 

 and Lower California, Mexico. 



NURSERY -STOCK IMPORTATIONS. 



There has been no material change in the system of control of 

 imported nursery stock established in the first year of the enforcement 

 of the plant quarantine act. 



