636 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Much of this plant and other material which is thus received by this 

 office must be disinfected as well as inspected, and must be again 

 sent out to the ultimate consignees. Some of the material is also 

 grown under quarantine either for the purpose of determining free- 

 dom from pests or for experimental purposes in relation to disinfec- 

 tion or pest control. This work has involved during the fiscal year 

 the handling, inspection, disinfection, and reshipment of upward of 

 20,000 different parcels and shipments, varying in quantity from 

 small packages to carload lots. The protective value of this work 

 in the exclusion of plant pests has been indicated elsewhere in this 

 report (p. 20). 



The inadequacy of the inspection and holding quarters on the 

 grounds of the department available for this important work very 

 greatly handicaps the men engaged in it and makes it very difficult 

 to properly handle and examine the imported and other material. 

 The available greenhouse facilities are also entirely inadequate to 

 care for such of this material as it is necessary to hold in quarantine 

 or for any experimental work. 



RECORD OF IMPORTS OF RESTRICTED PLANTS AND PLANT 



PRODUCTS. 



Under various foreign quarantines, the 6ntry of certain plants and 

 plant products is restricted and made subject to inspection, and, if 

 necessary, disinfection as a condition of entry for the purpose of 

 excluding various plant diseases and insect pests. These restricted 

 plants and plant products include nursery stock, plants, and seeds 

 for propagation, potatoes from various countries, various fruits, 

 vegetables, and grains, broomcorn, and cotton, cotton waste, cotton 

 wrappings, and cottonseed products. The records of the importa- 

 tions of the more important of these articles are indicated in the 

 following discussion and tables. 



IMPORTATIONS OF NURSERY STOCK, PLANTS, AND SEEDS. 



It should be noted that under regulation 2 of Quarantine 37, field, 

 vegetable, and flower seeds, as well as all fruits, vegetables, cereals, 

 and other plant products imported for medicinal, food, or manu- 

 facturing purposes, are free from all restrictions, even the taking out 

 of a permit, and hence no record of the importations of these classes 

 of seeds and plant products has hitherto been collected by the 

 board. Hereafter, however, under the fruit and vegetable quaran- 

 tine (No. 56), permits will be required for the importation of all 

 fruits and vegetables, and an exact record of their importation will 

 be kept. 



Under regulation 3 of Quarantine 37, certain bulbs, fruit and rose 

 stocks, and seeds are open to unlimited importation under continuing 

 permits, over 5,700 of which have already been issued. The three 

 tables following give a record of the importations under this regTila- 

 tion during the fiscal year 1923, of (1) fruit, rose, and nut stocks, 

 (2) bulbs, and (3) seeds of woody plants. 



