BULLETIN NO. 136, 



NEW YORK EXPERIMENT STATION. 



INSPECTIOX OF NURSERIES AND TREATMENT OF INFESTED 



NURSERY STOCK. 



V. H. LOWE. 



In the spring of 189G, the Maryland legislature passed a law providing 

 that all nursery stock shipped into that state must be accompanied by a 

 certificate. This certificate must state that the stock has been duly in- 

 spected by an authorized official and pronounced by him free from indica- 

 tions of the presence of dangerously injurious insects and plant diseases. 

 It is stated that this law w-as for the especial purpose of protecting Mary- 

 land fruit growers from the further importation into their state of that 

 much dreaded pest, the San Jos6 scale. Other states followed suit until 

 seven now have similar laws and the question of similar legislation is 

 being agitated in as many more. 



Owing to this agitation and also to the fact that much has been said 

 and written about the San Jos(S scale, its rapid w'ork as a destroyer of fruit 

 trees and shrubs and the ease with which it can be transported on nursery 

 stock, Western New York nurserymen soon found themselves in a position 

 where it w^as necessary to have their nurseries inspected or be seriously 

 handicapped by the inspection laws of other states. 



Although there was no evidence of an organized effort on the part of the 

 nurserymen to have the work of inspection put upon a proper basis, the 

 station at once undertook to accommodate them and has endeavored to do 

 so as far as possible during the past tw'O years. 



That there. will be still further need of nursery and orchard inspection 

 in the state seems very probable. The San Jos6 scale has been found in 



