622 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



either the gipsy moth or the brown-tail moth, or whenever such in- 

 festation is determined by a Federal inspector on his examination 

 of shipments from such nursery, further certification for interstate 

 movement from that nursery will be refused until after the close of 

 the next gipsy moth egg-laying season, unless and until such nursery 

 has been inspected and certified by the State to be apparently clean. 

 As hitherto, no quarantine has been declared to cover the deter- 

 mined areas of infestation in New Jersey and New York resulting 

 from the central colony at Somerville, N. J., in appreciation of the 

 fact that the quarantine and control operations enforced as they are 

 by these two States in cooperation with and largely under the 

 direction of the experts of the Bureau of Entomology of the de- 

 partment have been apparently fully adequate. 



DATE-SCALE ERADICATION. 



In connection with the Parlatoria date-scale eradication work 

 of 1923, it has been possible for the first time to bring all the date 

 plantings known to be infested under adequate treatment, including 

 the thorough pruning and burning of all infested trees. A close 

 follow-up inspection is now being maintained and must be continued 

 for each infested orchard for two or three years after the last infested 

 tree has been found and cleaned up to make sure that this pest is 

 completely eradicated. 



By arrangement between the Federal Horticultural Board and the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, date palms imported from abroad are 

 being established in nurseries to remain under the control of tlie 

 department for from 15 to 20 years. The offshoots produced by 

 these imported palms, however, will be sold to the public as soon as 

 they are considered free from Parlatoria. This policy has resulted 

 in the establishment of some six quarantined nurseries in California 

 and Arizona in which are planted the 10,000 date offshoots imported 

 from Algeria and Egypt in 1920, 1921, and 1922. These nurseries 

 will be cleaned up as thoroughly as possible and the offshoots re- 

 moved from them and disposed of for planting in date orchards. 

 The latter will be kept under inspection for two or three years to 

 determine their complete freedom from pests. 



As has been emphasized in previous reports, it is the belief of the 

 horticultural experts in charge of the development of date cul- 

 ture in this country that this industry can not hope to become and 

 continue a profitable one unless the Parlatoria scale is eradicated. 

 It is their belief, however, that if the present campaign of erad- 

 ication is continued for a few years its ultimate complete success 

 is assured. 



The second of the two scales which seriously affect date plantings 

 in the United States and date cultures of the Old World is the so- 

 called Phoenicococcus, or red date scale, which up to the present 

 time has been considered to be too deeply seated beneath the over- 

 lapping bases of the leaves of the plant to make its eradication 

 possible, and control measures only have been used against it. 

 The Phoenicococcus scale is, however, much easier of practical or- 

 chard control than is the Parlatoria scale and date culture can be 

 carried on without serious difficulty even if the former is present 

 The possibility, however, of eradicating the Phoenicococcus scale 



