502 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



4 GEORGE V., A. 1914 

 I.— ADMINISTRATION OF THE DESTRUCTIVE INSECT AND PEST ACT. 



(«.) — The Inspection and Fumigation of Imported Nursery Stock. 



During the importation season of 1911-12 over 3,8'00,000 trees and plants imported 

 into Canada were inspected. In order to indicate the importance of this inspection 

 work and the need for constant vigilance I may mention the discovery by our officer 

 at Vancouver during the inspection work, early in 1912, of eight egg masses of the 

 Gipsy Moth (Porthetria dispar) in an evergreen (Thuja) from Japan. Before the 

 egg masses reached the Department several hundred of the larvae had emerged. 

 European shipments, we are pleased to note, are remarkably free from Brown-tail 

 Moth infestation owing largely, no doubt, to the marked improvement in the inspec- 

 tion of the nurseries in Europe. Scale insects, woolly aphis and certain other species 

 of insects are still too common on imported nursery stock, and there are several 

 serious pests from which we are as yet free but by which we are menaced. Th 

 demand that careful attention shall be paid to our imported trees and plants. 



On learning of the wide distribution and prevalence of the Mediterranean Fruit 

 Fly (CeratUis capitat'a) in the Hawaiian Island-, from which fruit is imported into 

 Canada, a full inquiry was made as to the possibility of its introduction into Canada, 

 and being convinced that its presence in those islands constituted a menace, the 

 importation of all non-canned fruit from the Hawaiian Islands was prohibited by the 

 passing, on April 19, 1912, of Regulation No. 16, under the Destructive Insect and 

 Pest Act. 



For some time considerable apprehension had existed concerning the possibility 

 of the importation of the ogg masses of the Gipsy Moth on forest plant products, 

 such as logs, rough-timber, etc., from the infested New England States. No regular 

 inspection service existed there, but upon the organization of the Federal Horti- 

 cultural Board of the United States Department of Agriculture and the enactment 

 by the Board of a regulation requiring the inspection of such forest plant products, 

 the following Regulation No. 17 was passed in December, 1912, a slight amendment 

 being made in February, 1913: — 



Regulation 17. — -Forest plant products, including logs, tan bark, posts, 

 poles, railroad ties, cordwood and lumber originating in any one of the States 

 of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island, 

 five of the United States of America, shall not be admitted into Canada unless 

 such forest plant products shall be accompanied by a certificate showing that 

 they have been inspected by the United States Department of Agriculture and 

 found free from the Gipsy Moth. Each shipment shall he accompanied by 

 such an inspection certificate, and the certificate shall accompany the bill of 

 lading, way-bills or other memoranda pertaining to such shipments. 



The importation of coniferous trees, such as spruce, fir. hemlock, pine, 

 jiuniper (cedar) and arbor-vi'tse (white cedar) or foliage thereof, and decora- 

 tive plants such as holly and laurel known and described as "Christmas greens" 

 or greenery, from the States of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Con- 

 necticut and Rhode Island, is prohibited. 



The prohibition of the importation of coniferous trees from the infested States 

 was rendered necessary owing to the practical impossibility of inspecting them with 

 any decree of certainty. 



'(?>.) — FIELD WORK AGAINST THE BROWN-TAIL MOTH AND PARASITE WORK. 



In my last annual report I referred to the increased area of infestation of the 

 Brown-tail .Moth in New Brunswick. The scouting work in New Brunswick, of 

 which Mr. J. D. Tothill had charge and which was concluded in the spring, but after 



