330 



THE AQSICOLTURAL NEWS. 



Otober 12, 1913. 



INSECT NOTES. 



PLANT PROTECTION IN THE UNITi^:D 



STATES. 



The information given below is copieii I'rom Cir- 

 cular No 87, fruiii the (Jtfice of ihe S-creiary of the 

 United States Departm^-nt of Agricuhnrc inid is pre- 

 sented herewith a.s likely to be of interest; *o readets of 

 .the Agricidtwrai Nevs. Th-^ circilHr inehides an 

 introduction and the development; of puints under 

 four headings: the introduction and the firs:, "f jhese 

 parts are given herewith. The West Indian Colonies 

 are equipped with legislative enactments by means of 

 which it is sought to prevent the introduction of 

 pests and diseases along with imported plants. The 

 instances quoted as illustrations of the conditions call- 

 ing for legislation can hardly fail to impress the mind 

 of the reader with the importance of these imported 

 pests and the necessity for preventing the introduction 

 of additional forms with similar capacity for harm. 



iXTRODUi'TioN. The etfort to secure national legislation 

 to keep out new and dangerous insect pests or plant diseases 

 which may be brought in with imported nursery stock has 

 been actively favoured by the Department of Agriculture, 

 just as the department in the past has promoted and 

 .secured legislation enabling it to exclude from this country 

 diseased animals or to quarantine and stamp out animal 

 diseases whenever such have appeared. In the case of 

 domestic animals, the exercise of these powers has brought 

 enormous benefit and has worked entirely satisfactorily to 

 •the live .stock industry. It is reasonable to believe that like 

 lienefits to fruit and forest interests, including the nursery 

 business, will undoubtedly come from similar legislation to 

 exclude insect pests and plant diseases. 



The mere statement is sufficient to show the need, but 

 a strong concerted effort is being made to array the nursery 

 trade of this country against such legislation and put this impor- 

 tint industry in the very unfair altitude of opposing reasonable 

 legislation, which is quite as much for its own protection as 

 it is for the protection of fruit and forest interests. In view 

 of the evident misunderstanding which is being broadly 

 circulated in relation to the intent of the proposed act and of 

 its probable manner of enforcement, and the groundless fear 

 that the Secretary of Agriculture or his experts would take 

 an unreasonable attitude toward the nurserymen, it seems 

 desirable to make a fair statement (1) of the conditions 

 calling for such legislation, (2) the history of the efforts to 

 secure it, (3) an explanation of the scope and working of the 

 Bill now before Congress, and (4) the relation of the Secre- 

 tary of Agriculture and his assistants to the enforcements of 

 such a measure. 



CONDITIONS cALLiNci FOR LEGISLATION. Practically all of 

 the European powers have very stringent plant inspection 

 laws, and, in the case of the United States, absolutely pro- 

 hibit the entry of nursery stock. Apples and other American 

 fruits are admitted only when the most rigid examination 

 shows freedom from insect infestation. Canada and other 

 important iiritish possessions have similar protective 

 legislation. 



The United States is the only great power without pro- 

 tection from the importation of insect infested or diseased 

 plants, and thus becomes a sort of dumping ground for 

 European refuse nursery and ornamental stock. This does 



not often apply to the importations of the larger and reput- 

 able importing firms, but does apply to the poorly packed 

 miscellaneous ornamental and other stock imported by 

 department stores of large cities or that sent to this country 

 to be sold under the hammer by aucti"neers for whatever 

 price may be obtained. 



The immediate danger which led to the recent effort to 

 secure legislation was the discovery in 1909 of the abundant 

 importation and wide distribution into the Uniled States of 

 nursery stock infested with brown-tail moth nests and occa- 

 sional egg niH-ses of the gipsj moth. During the years 190Q 

 snJ 1910 such infested sto^'k was carried into twenty-two 

 States, c'overing the country from the Atlantic seaboard to the 

 liocky Mountains. During the first of these years no less 

 than 7,000 winter nests of the brown-tail moth, containing 

 approximately 3,000,000 larvae, were found in shipments 

 into New York State alone — seed material enough to infest the 

 whole United States within a few years. During the second 

 of these years, 617 of these nests were found on nursery 

 stock shipped into the State of Ohio, and a much larger 

 number, appromiinately the same as the year previous, were 

 again sent into New York. Smaller numbers of these nests, 

 proportioned to the amount of nursery stock received, were 

 sent into other States east of the Rocky Mountains during 

 both of these years. Fewer brown-tail moth nests were 

 received during the season just ended (1910-11) owing to 

 the agitation in this country and more strict supervision by 

 foreign (iovernment''. These winter nests are, however, 

 still coming in, and the danger is now perhaps even greater, 

 for the reason that as infestation becomes more infrequent 

 a laxity of examination is likely to result. 



So far as possible, this stock, as voluntarily reported by 

 customs orticers and railroads, has been examined and the 

 brown-tail nests removed or destroyed by state authoriiiis, 

 or, where these were not available, by agents of the Bureau of 

 Entomology of the United States Department of Agriculture. 

 Undoubtedly many shipments have not been reported or 

 examined, and it is quite probable that local infestation has 

 already started at different interior points. The history of 

 both the gipsy and brown-tail moths in New England shows 

 that these insects may be present for several years without 

 being noticed, slowly gain headway, and then suddenly develop 

 their full power of destructiveness. 



It is scarcely necessary to comment on the danger to this 

 country from the careless introduction and wide distribution 

 of these two orchard and forest pests. In a limited district in 

 New England more than a million dollars a year has been 

 spent for a long period in a mere effort to control these two 

 insects, and the General Government is now appropriating 

 #300,000 annually to endeavour to clear them from the 

 border of main highways and thus check their spread. These 

 expenditures do not take into account the actual damage done, 

 but they do serve as a measure of the danger to the whole 

 country from the recent distribution of these two insects oa 

 imported nursery stock. 



As further illustrations of the constant risk from lack 

 of legislation may be mentioned too very recently inti-oduced 

 insects which will undoubtedly prove very expensive pests 

 in future years. The European alfalfa leaf weevil, on the 

 authority of the entomologist of the Utah Experiment 

 Station, Mr. Titus, was probably brought into Utah on pack- 

 ing of nursery stock or other merchandise from Europe. 

 This leaf weevil has already destroyed much of the value of 

 the important alfalfa crop of Utah, and is spreading into 

 adjacent states. The other illustration is the oriental cotton 

 scale (Pidviiiaria psidii), probably the worst scale pest of 

 citrus and other sub-tropical plants in Southern Asia. Thia 



