FEDERAL HORTICULTUEAL BOARD. 531 



WAR ACTIVITIES. 



The restrictions on foreign commerce necessitated by tlie war brought 

 the Federal Horticultural Board into some cooperative relation- 

 ship with the War Trade Board, particularly in regard to the impor- 

 tation of foreign cotton. This had to do with the determination of 

 the amount of foreign cottons which should be permitted to enter the 

 United States to meet essential war and other needs and to the enforce- 

 ment of the regulations of this department in so far as they covered 

 products permitted entry by the War Trade Board. 



NEED FOR ENLARGEMENT OF PORT INSPECTION SERVICE. 



One of the most important and useful features of the work under 

 the board is its port inspection service. This service was started to 

 meet the need for necessary control of the entry and disinfection of 

 imported cotton on account of the pink bollworm. The Avork neces- 

 sitates the maintainino- of inspectors at the ports of Boston, New 

 York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Calexico, the only ports at which 

 foreign cottons are permitted entry into the United States. The 

 board is also maintaining an inspection and quarantine service along 

 the Mexican border to prevent the accidental entry of cotton and 

 cotton seed with the railway, freight, and other traffic entering the 

 United States from Mexico. The work of this service during the year 

 is referred to elsewliere in this report. 



In addition to the port inspection service in rehition to foreign cot- 

 ton, and on the Mexican border, this department is now enforcing 

 fifteen quarantines prohibiting or restricting the entry of foreign 

 plants and plant products. It is also enforcing seven orders regulat- 

 ing and restricting the entry of such products. These quarantines 

 and orders are being enforced in part through cooperation with the 

 customs service. The burden on the customs service, however, has 

 grown to such an extent that it has been necessary to take over the 

 actual enforcement of these quarantines at the principal ports of 

 entr}^, as far as is possible, through the existing port inspection serv- 

 ice referred to above. Furthermore, the officers of the customs serv- 

 ice lack tlie technical information necessary for the proper enforce- 

 of the plant quarantines. 



Only two States, California and Florida, have established adequate 

 port inspection service for the protection of their citizens and inci- 

 dentally of the country as a whole. This department has been able 

 to collaborate with the port inspection service of these two States in 

 the enforcement of the Federal quarantines and restrictive orders re- 

 ferred to. The value of this State service to the States of California 

 and Florida has been fully demonstrated, and these States are now 

 maintaining a service of a score or more of men each, covering all 

 the ports of entrj? into these States, at an annual cost of many thou- 

 sands of dollars. 



The need of such port inspection service has been abundantly 

 shown by the results obtained through the protection ali'ordcd in 

 these States and by work which has been undertaken in a limited Avay 

 by the Federal Government. Such an inspection service was tenta- 

 tively installed at New Orleans for six weeks, and the amount of in- 

 fested plant and food material intercepted by the inspection of 

 shipping which entered that port, including both ships' cargoes and 

 ships' stores and miscellaneous fruits and plants carried by passengers 

 and crews, fully demonstrated the danger which is constantly beinii 



