512 ANNUAL EEPOIITS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



considerable increase in the number of inspectors. The car fumi- 

 gation houses referred to in the previous report have been com- 

 pleted. An increase of $100,000 was granted by Congress in the 

 appropriation for the Mexican border work to cover the cost of the 

 chemicals and hibor involved in the disinfection of railway' cars and 

 freight in these specially constructed fumigation houses. To cover 

 this cost the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to fix charges 

 for such cleaning and disinfection, the moneys thus received to be 

 covered into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts. Delays in se- 

 curing equij^ment and installation of the machinery designed for 

 the. generation of the hydrocyanic-acid gas have prevented the in- 

 auguration of this new form of disinfection, and in the meantime 

 the disinfection and cleaning by the older methods have been car- 

 ried out under the supervision of the department's inspectors. From 

 the 1st of October the disinfection along the border will be in these 

 houses under the direct supervision of the inspectors of this depart- 

 ment. 



The inspectors of the board at the border ports of Mexico have 

 the additional duty of enforcing the various quarantines which af- 

 fect Mexican products other than cotton, and to facilitate this work 

 a warning j^hicard to passengers was issued by the Secretary of 

 Agriculture under date of August 10, 1918, calling attention to the 

 prohibitions affecting the entry from INIexico of various fruits, sugar 

 cane, nursery stock, and sweet and Irish potatoes, in addition to cot- 

 ton, cotton seed, and cottonseed products. 



Inspection forces were maintained at Brownsville, Laredo, Eagle 

 Pass, El Paso, and Del Eio, Tex. At the first four points mentioned 

 railroad lines cross the border. At these points all the cars and 

 freight offered for entry into the United States were inspected and 

 passed for entry if free from cotton seed or lint. In the great 

 majority of cases these cars were also fumigated with hydrocyanic- 

 acid gas under the direction of the inspectors immediately upon 

 their crossing into the United States. During the year 16,597 cars 

 were passed for entry at these- four ports. About 43 per cent of 

 these cars w^ere empties, 14 per cent contained ore, 12 per cent hides, 

 1 per cent scrap iron, 1 per cent bones, and the rest contained miscel- 

 laneous cargoes invoiced under 46 different headings. 



No railroad crosses the border at Del Rio, but the existence of an 

 infested area in Mexico, in the immediate vicinity of this port, made 

 necessary the inspection and cleaning of vehicles here, to the num- 

 ber of about 175 per week. 



THE EUROPEAN CORN BORER. 



An important European crop pest now designated in this country 

 as the European corn borer, but infesting many other crops, has 

 recently gained entrance into the United States and may develop 

 into one of our most injurious insects. The increase of our knowl- 

 edge of the distribution and of the plants attacked in the United 

 States by this pest has been very rapid, and the board has conducted 

 three hearings and one conference on the subject and has partici- 

 pated in several field surveys of the regions infested in cooperation 

 with experts of the Bureau of Entomology and State officials. 



