82 



ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



Off. Doc. 



PLANTS IMPORTED INTO PENNSYLVANIA AND INSPECTED DURING 



THE YEAR 1914 



Month 



January 



February 



March, 



April 



May 



June, 



July 



September, ... 



October 



November, . . . 



December 



Miscellaneous, 



Totals, . 



Number of 

 Plants 



659.177 



742.496 



679, »93 



176.896 



10,S74 



1,075 



52 



4,169 



118,485 



150,021 



155.565 



89.899 



2, 787, 7*2 



INSPECTION OF IMPORTED STOCK 



It is exceedingly important that the great number of destructive 

 insect pests and plant diseases which are found destructive in cer- 

 tain parts of the earth be kept out of Pennsylvania by a strict and 

 careful inspection service of all importations of plants. It is not 

 de.sirable that our citizens be prohibited the advantages of import- 

 ing good nursery stock, or new or desirable varieties of trees, shrubs, 

 plants, seeds, bulbs, etc.; and to hedge our State about with strict 

 quarantine laws entirely prohibiting such importations would be 

 gross injustice to our progressive citizens. It is much better to 

 permit ready trade with all parts of the earth, but to inspect the 

 imported material as soon as possible after its arrival. This is 

 done by co-operation with the Federal Government. Use is made 

 chiefly of the orchard inspectors of the Bureau of Zoology for in- 

 specting importations of trees, shrubs, plants, bulbs, and often even 

 seeds after they arrive at their destination. 



By a system of complete reports the office is notified concerning 

 the arrival of each shipment at port of entry, and its destination, 

 whether it be by parcel post, by express or by freight. The orchard 

 inspector in charge of the district to which it is consigned is notified 

 and gets into touch with the consignee, and just as soon as possible 

 after its arrival he goes to the premises and thoroughly inspects 

 the shipment. In some cases it may be only a few plants sent by 

 mail, but there is a possibility of the introduction and spreiid of 

 the fearfully destructive Brown-tail moth or Gipsy moth, or of such 

 diseases as the white pine fungus, which is destructive to the white 

 pine forests in foreign countries. It may be a box containing trees 

 or shrubs consigned to a private grower for the adornment of his 

 premises, or trees for planting in his orchard, or it may be a large 

 shipment of carloads of nursery stock by freight, containing tens of 

 thousands of trees. All such shipments are inspected with the 

 greatest possible thoroughness and most careful scrutiny; and it is 

 suffiicient to fiay that this work, though laborious in the extreme, has 

 resulted in keeping out of Pennsylvania many serious pests that 

 otherwise would have been introduced, and which would have added 

 to the destructive agencies that are now at work reducing the in- 



