180 SIXTEENTH BIENNIAL REPORT 



of tlie western states along the following lines : (1) locating and inspecting 

 every shipment of five-needled pines, currants, or gooseberries that is known to 

 have entered this territory from a region where the disease was present. 

 (2) Searching for violations of the Federal quarantine which was desigued to 

 Protect the West from this disease. (3) General examination of the wild and 

 cultivated white pines, currants and gooseberries to see if the disease was present. 

 The purpose of this work was to locate and stamp out any trace of the disease 

 which might be found, and to prevent by all means its introduction into the West. 



Since the beginning of this work, thousands of imported pines, currants, and 

 gooseberries have been inspected, and large areas of native white pines have 

 been scouted. So far no evidence of the disease has been found in Oregon or any 

 other of the western states. 



The Oregon State Board of Horticulture, working in Cooperation with the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, has intercepted and destroyed a number of shipments 

 of potentially dangerous pines, currants, and gooseberries, which were entering 

 Oregon. 



Quarantine Enforcement 



Results of extensive searching for the disease in the West indicate that it 

 has not gained a foothold here. To keep it out requires the rigid enforcement 

 of State and federal quarantine laws enacted for the purpose. These laws 

 were made effective by the State of Oregon on June 1, 1917, and by the federal 

 government on July 1, 1917, and July 1, 1919. They prohibit the importation of 

 five-needled pines, currants, or gooseberries into Oregon or the other western states 

 from any foreign country, or the eastern United States. The quarantine lines laid 

 down are as follows : on the east, the western boundaries of Minnesota, Iowa, Mis- 

 souri, Arkansas, and Louisiana ; on the north, the Canadian boundary ; on the 

 west, the Pacific Ocean ; and on the south, the Mexican lioundary. Thus the West 

 is walled off on every side from the introduction of White Pine Blister Rust, 

 if these quarantines are rendered effective. 



Oregon does not have a law requiring the terminal inspection of plant stock 

 carried by parcel post. Recent investigations in other western states have shown 

 that a tremendous amount of plant stock is moved by this medium of transporta- 

 tion, and that it contains much material of interest to those who are endeavoring 

 to enforce the White Pine Blister Rust quarantines. Here is a definite loophole 

 by which plants infected with White Pine Blister Rust may be entering 

 Oregon today. Regulations have been laid down by the Post Office Department 

 whereby any State, after a declaration of Intention, may inspect parcel post pack- 

 ages containing plant stock. These regulations furthermore impose a fine of $100 

 upon any person who ships plant stock by parcel post into such a state without 

 definitely labeling the package as containing such. The opportunity is clear for 

 those states which wish to take advantage of it. The Office of Blister Rust 

 Control earnestly advises all western states to set up a System of parcel post 

 inspection to prevent the introduction of White Pine Blister Rust, as well as 

 other diseases and insect pests. 



Summary of Situation 



The people of Oregon have doubtless read previously of the introduction of 

 White Pine Blister Rust into northeastern America. Later reports have told of 

 its destructiveness in the native pine Stands there. Very likely the principal 

 feeling of these readers has been one of relief in that they have imagined that this 

 was one plant disease problem with which the West did not have to cope. Probably 

 the pine owners in New England and other eastern states had similar thoughts a 

 few years ago, when they read of the destruction to the pine Stands in Europe, 

 due to this disease. The Atlantic Ocean formed a seemingly insurmountable 

 barrier to its spread. Likewise, the immense Stretch of pineless country embody- 



