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THE HORTICULTURAL PICKET LINE. 



By Frederick Maskew, Chief Deputy State Quarantine Officer and Federal Quaran- 

 tine Officer, San Francisco, Cal. 



When Alexander Craw in November, 1899, at the Port of San Fran- 

 cisco detected the maggots in a shipment of oranges from Acapulco, he 

 established the first outpost of a picket line that now encircles the entire 

 United States. The passing by Congress of the Plant Quarantine Act 

 on August 20, 1912, created the Federal Horticultural Board, and one 

 of the first acts of that body — after a thorough investigation of the 

 men and their methods of inspection — was to enlist the services of the 

 State quarantine officers of California as collaborators of the United 



Fig. 334. Various stages of the Mexican orange 

 maggot and some of the common host fruits in- 

 cluding oranges, guavas and mangoes. (From 

 Commission de Parasitologia Agricola, Mexico. 

 Photo by Chatterley. ) 



States Department of Agriculture. Notice of Quarantine No. 5 

 (foreign) The Mexican fruit fl}^ was declared on January 15, 1913, 

 and the embargo maintained for twelve years at every port of entry on 

 the coast line of California was at once extended to every port of entry 

 in the United States. Working in conjunction with the Federal Horti- 

 cultural Board and the State Commissioner of Horticulture, the writer 

 of this article investigated in person the methods employed by the 

 United States Customs officers in putting into execution the provisions 

 of Quarantine No. 5 at every port of entry along the international 

 boundary line from Yuma, Arizona, to Brownsville, Texas. 



