358 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



The Forester of llie Pennsylvania Railroad stated at the State 

 Nursery meeting? that this blight was found as far west in this State 

 as Altoona. It nvvma to be spreadiu.^ rapidly. Altoona, you know, 

 is about the middle of the State. I shall be much interested in re- 

 ceiving your pamphlet on this subject." 



PROGRESS AND SPRAYING. 



Progress in spraying has been made by the use of more efficient 

 apparatus in certain details, such as a steel-capped nozzle with large 

 opening for spraying the Lime-sulfur wash without clogging, exten- 

 sion rod with an eighth-turn to permit turning the nozzle to spray 

 the trees on three sides without the operator walking around, ex- 

 tension rod drip-tin disk to prevent the liquid running down on the 

 hands of the operator, and a few other like attachments that have 

 proven helpful to the man who realizes he must spray in ovdov to 

 have first-class fruit. The past year has been signalized by the fur- 

 ther successful use of the home-boiled Lime-sulfur wash, and the 

 appearance and successful testing of the commercial Lime-sulfur 

 wa^, which is now put on the market by no less than ten or a 

 dozen manufacturers. This material can be diluted to eight times 

 its bulk and sprayed on the trees Avith success, and cannot at any 

 time be used, strong enough to injure the tree. In using carbonic 

 acid gas pressure, however, it should be remembered that it is im- 

 portant to dilute with hot water, and in spraying any Lime-sulfur 

 wash with gas pressure, the use of hot, instead of cold, water is 

 recommended, to prevent the gas being absorbed by the liquid. 



LEGISLATION. 



Federal legislation is in progress in behalf of the farmers and fruit 

 growers. In this regard we recommend prompt action in favor of 

 the passage of the United States Insecticide and Fungicide law, 

 which provides that all insecticides and fungicides must be in ac- 

 cordance with the label upon them. We also recommend special 

 Federal legislation providing against the importation of all pests, 

 such as the Brown-tail Moth, by such means as may be found best. 

 We recognize the wisdom of our own State Paris Green Law in 

 giving our farmers and fruit growers a pure product, and recommend 

 the passage of such a law concerning other insecticides and fungi- 

 cides sold within the State. We also recommend a State enactment 

 prohibiting the importation of deciduous plants of any kind, age, 

 or size, into this State from foreign countries without both a certi- 

 ficate of inspection from the country in which they were packed, 

 and also notification to the Secretary of Agriculture, or the State 

 Zoologist of the arrival of such packages immediately upon coming 

 into the port of entry. 



The work of the inspection of orchards and the demonstrations in 

 this State, by the Division of Zoology of the Department of Agri- 

 culture, must be recognized as successful and helpful to the farmers 

 of the State. The Zoologist reports the inspection of 8,500,000 

 fruit trees, and evidences that Pennsylvania has at least 20,000,000 

 growing fruit trees, worth at least |lbo,000,0000. 



It is interesting to note that the railroad companies have recently 

 awakened to this and are joining hands with the agriculturists of 

 the State in order to help the farmers and fruit growers. For ex- 



