DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 63 



KEPORT OF THE STATE INSPECTOR OF NURSERIES AND 



ORCHARDS. 



To the State Board of Agriculture : 



I have the honor to present herewith my report as Inspector of Nurs- 

 eries and Orchards for the eleven months ending June 30. 1903. 



When I assumed the responsibilities of the position, August 1, 1902, the 

 season for the inspection of the nurseries of the State was at hand and 

 this work was taken up at once. On the fifteenth of October all of the 

 nurseries of whose existence I was aware, had been inspected and all but 

 two had been examined by myself. The nursery trees were for the most 

 part found to be in excellent condition. Here and there cases of black 

 peach aphis, wooly aphis, crown gall and other dangerous insects were 

 discovered and the trees were ordered destroyed except in the case of 

 the peach aphis when the trees were given a certificate after they had 

 received treatment. At a number of places, San Jose scale wa . discov- 

 ered but, in a majority of instances, the insects were confined to a few 

 trees on the grounds of dealers in nursery stock who only had a few 

 surplus trees that they had heeled in. In one instance it seemed probable 

 that the scale had been brought into the State upon a single tree but in 

 the others, the premises were located in villages where the scale was found 

 to be present upon trees growing in the gardens and the nursery stock had 

 evidently become infested after it was planted out. In all cases the 

 infested trees were destroyed. 



At two places only was the scale found upon trees growing in the 

 nursery. All the trees upon which the scale could be found were de- 

 stroyed and the others were fumigated before they received a certificate. 



While the law permits the selling without a license of surplus plants 

 by any grower of small fruit it requires all nurserymen to have any 

 stock they sell inspected. In various parts of the State, and especially in 

 lierrien county, there are a large number of persons who make a business 

 of selling their surplus strawberry, raspberry and blackberry plants to 

 the nurserymen in their vicinity, and in order that they may be sold under 

 the licenses of these nurseries they have to be inspected. During the 

 year one hundred and fifty such inspections were made and certificates 

 were furnished wherever the plants were found free from insects and dis- 

 eases. With few exceptions they were in excellent condition. 



Early in the fall it became evident that the scale had become quite 

 generally distributed in a number of villages and cities and in order that 

 the requirements of the law might be complied with, and the suspected 

 places visited and inspected, the appointment of a number of deputies 

 became necessary as during the fall and winter months, my duties as 

 Superintendent of Farmers' Institutes took the greater part rf my time. 

 The following appointments were made: E. R. Bennett and O. L. Ayrs to 

 be general deputies, and Leo M. Geismar, of Chatham, Superintendent of 

 the Upper Peninsula Experiment Station, and T. A. Farrand, Superin- 

 tendent of the South Haven Sub-Station were appointed special deputies 

 for work in their sections. The latter appointments were made to save 

 time and traveling expenses where calls came in the northern and western 



