572 



THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



QUARANTINE STATISTICS. 



By Frederick Maskew, Chief Deputy Quarantine Officer, San Francisco, Cal. 



With the passing of the month of April ended the first year in 

 which the writer has had charge of the State Horticultnral Quarantine 

 service with headquarters at the port of San Francisco. Several 

 changes have been instituted in the methods of conducting the service 

 during that period, and the inspection force has also been increased. 

 P^r the direction of future policies it was considered necessary to 

 obtain a tabulated form of the results of the work under these new 

 methods. With that end in view a comparative analysis of the statis- 

 tics covering a period of two consecutive years' work of the force 

 employed has been compiled by Miss E. Clare Button, clerk of the 

 division. The findings are such as to make this department feel justi- 

 fied in publishing them, and the same are herewith presented: 



Importations of Horticultural Products. 



From May 1, 1911, to April 30, 1912. 



Sliips inspected : 348 



Total parcels intercepted 654,107 



Parcels in baggage of passengers 



and crew 1,828 



Express shipments 



San Mateo County shipments 15 



From May 1, 1912, to April 30, 1913. 



Ships inspected 419 



Total parcels intercepted 701,986 



Parcels in baggage of passengers 



and crew 3,399 



Express shipments 1,971 



San Mateo County shipments 167 



In an attempt to digest the comparative value of the foregoing it 

 is my opinion that 419 against 348, an increase of 71 ships inspected 

 in a similar period of time, is largely if not entirely a matter of natural 

 fluctuation in trade conditions, and the same may be considered in the 

 case of 701,986 against 654,107, a gain of 47,879 parcels of horticul- 

 tural products in our favor. 



The items worthy of careful consideration, and which are by far 

 the most important in my opinion, are the ones concerned with the 

 parcels of horticultural products intercepted in the baggage of the 

 passengers and crews. This is where the contraband material is usually 

 found, and it was for the purpose of strengthening this l)ranch of the 

 service that I asked for and was granted two additional inspectors. 

 In view of all the publicity that has been given to this matter during 

 this period, as well as the co-operation of the Federal Government, 

 3;399 against 1,828, a gain of 2,571 parcels in one year from this 

 source is an object lesson which I consider supports my previous 

 judgment of the necessity of augmenting the inspection force. 



One of the first things I set in motion after taking charge of this 

 work was a systematic study of all the avenues of entrance into the port 

 of San Francisco that were open to horticultural products, for the 

 purpose of locating leaks in the quarantine service. The items set 

 down in the table as express shipments are proof that such leaks existed. 

 In editing the daily reports of the inspectors I soon noticed the absence 

 of shipments by express, and a search of the l)ooks showed that none 

 such had been inspected or recorded for a year previous. It required 



