THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 205 



notify the postmaster at the place of inspection, who shall promptly 

 notify the sender of said plants or plant products that they will 

 1)0 returned to him upon his request and at his expense, or in 

 default of such request that they will be turned over to the state 

 authorities for destruction. 



"On and after the passage and approval of this act it shall be 

 unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to deposit in the 

 United States mails an> package containing any plant or plant 

 product addressed to any place within a state maintaining inspec- 

 tion thereof, as herein defined, without plainly marking the package 

 so that its contents may be readily ascertained by an inspection of 

 the outside thereof. Whoever shall fail to so mark said packages 

 shall be punished by a fine of not more than $100. 



"The Postmaster General is hereby authorized and directed to 

 make all needful rules and regulations for carrying out the pur- 

 poses hereof. ' ' 



Apprised by the Deputy Attorney General of the State that by virtue 

 of his office the State Commissioner of Horticulture is authorized to 

 accept the provisions of this act, I at once informed the United States 

 Secretary of Agriculture and the Postmaster General that California 

 wished to avail herself of the protection afforded by this enactment. 



The county seat of each county was recommended at the same time 

 as a central station for inspection in case the county is provided with 

 a county horticultural commissioner. In all other cases the nearest 

 county seat where there is a commissioner is to serve as the inspection 

 center. For example, Del Norte County has no county horticultural 

 commissioner, and so the inspection center would be Eureka, Humboldt 

 County. A list of insects and plants that have been show^n by experi- 

 ence to be suspects was also forwarded to the Postmaster General. 

 It will be suggested, of course, that the inspectors give a sharp lookout 

 to these suspected horticultural products. 



Word has been received that the Postmaster General is now preparing 

 rules for the guidance of postmasters and inspectors in carrying out 

 the provisions of this very meritorious law. — A. J. C. 



Disea,sed Potatoes. — There is unfortunately a great quantity of 

 seed potatoes in many of the markets at the present time that is entirely 

 unfit for planting. If these seed potatoes are used, they will produce 

 a very meager crop and one of very inferior quality. (See article in 

 the March issue of The Monthly Bulletin, 1915.) Many of these 

 diseased tubers will find their way into the larger cities. Many of 

 the potato merchants and more of the farmers are utterly ignorant of 

 these diseases. We see then that there is nothing to prevent the wide 

 distribution of this seed. This will play havoc with the potato crop and 

 will also poison the soil. The following letter from an able and wide- 

 awake county horticultural commissioner is interesting in this con- 



