FEDEEAL HORTICULTURAL BOARD. 623 



has been indicated by the experience of the last year or two, and 

 it is now believed that at least important districts can be established 

 in this country which will be free from both the Phoenicococcus and 

 the Parlatoria scales. Such scale-free districts would offer im- 

 portant future possibilities in the way of foreign trade in the ex- 

 portation of date offshoots as, for example, in the case of the possible 

 date culture which may later develop in Australia and South Africa. 

 At present these countries are unable to obtain scale-free offshoots 

 on account of strict quarantine laws enforced by them which exclude 

 all date offshoots from the date countries of the Old World. 



REVISION OF HAWAIIAN FRUIT-FLY QUARANTINE. 



The quarantine of Hawaii on account of the Mediterranean fruit 

 fly and the melon fly was revised, effective December 1, 1922, to make 

 more explicit the inspection requirement of vessels, cargo, etc.^ at 

 ports of arrival in the United States. The new restrictions make 

 specific provision for the boarding and inspection of vessels at 

 quarantine by department inspectors. If such vessels are found to 

 be fouled with fruit-fly larvse, pupee, etc., or to contain any contra- 

 band fruits and vegetables, such material must be destroyed and the 

 vessel must be disinfected before leaving the quarantine area. The 

 new regulations provide specifically also for the inspection of bag- 

 gage and cargo on the dock, making possible greater efficiency and 

 safety. 



THE CAMPHOR SCALE. 



The placing of a Federal quarantine on Louisiana and Alabama to 

 prevent the spread of the so-called camphor scale, a newly discovered 

 crop insect pest, was considered at a public hearing held in Wash- 

 ington, November 20, 1922. As a result of this hearing the board 

 decided not to recommend a Federal quarantine at that time on ac- 

 count of this scale pest, for the reasons indicated below. Repre- 

 sentations were also made by officials of the invaded States that the 

 safeguards which these States were maintaining or which they pro- 

 posed to maintain in the future would control the distribution of the 

 pest as efficiently as could probably be accomplished under Federal 

 quarantine. 



The information brought out at this hearing as to the spread of 

 this pest was believed to be not sufficiently adequate and depend- 

 able to enable the establishment of a Federal quarantine. Further- 

 more, prior to the discovery of this scale, shipments of nursery stock 

 and plants had been made widely throughout the United States from 

 New Orleans nurseries, furnishing abundant opportunity for the 

 dissemination of this scale pest. Further and perhaps even broader 

 opportunity for similar wide distribution is indicated by the dis- 

 covery, subsequent to the hearing, of the long establishment of this 

 pest in Texas, discussed below. 



The need of Federal action is much lessened also by the fact that 

 the two States most concerned in the menace of this scale to the citrus 

 culture — Florida and California — are now enforcing quarantines 

 against citrus and other carrying plants from the invaded States. 



The Department of Agriculture, through the Bureau of Ento- 

 mology, however, proposes to cooperate with the States where the 



