41C THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



provisions of their own empowering act and the direction and supervision of the 

 packing of fresh fruits to meet the requirements of the standardization act, they 

 do find time to perform other duties which, while but little recognized outside the 

 rank and file of the service, are of vital importance to the continued health and 

 cleanliness of our orchards and farms. Commissioned as state quarantine guardians 

 they are thus authorized to carry out all the provisions of the state quarantine 

 law and the regulations of the several state quarantine orders. This service, 

 while gratuitous upon their part, is capably and zealously performed, and con- 

 si itutes a complete system of control over the imports of plant products at all 

 points of delivery in the state. Were it not for this systematic interception and 

 examination of imports arriving by rail and mail at interior points, the efforts of 

 the quarintine inspectors to keep out insect pests and plant diseases at the mari- 

 time ports of entry would soon be brought to naught. This fact is patent to the 

 executive head of the quarantine division at all times. The real value of this 

 cooperative work in the sum total is properly appreciated and, with a full 

 recognition of the strength and sanity of the statutes that give legal sanction and 

 authority to carry on this work, we know with a clarity and understanding born 

 of long experience that the prime factor of success in the endeavor is and always 

 will be the one of personal equation. As a formula for continued success we sum 

 up in the language of Kipling : It ain't the law nor ordinance, nor fines that we 

 can lay, but the close cooperation that makes us win the day. It ain't the individual 

 nor the service as a whole, but the everlasting teamwork of every blooming soul. 



F. M. 



THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AND THE INSECTARY. 



The county commissioners of horticulture have always manifested a lively interest 

 in the work of controlling insect pests by the use of their natural enemies. Being 

 in direct contact with the growers and appreciating perhaps as no one else can the 

 difficulties with which they have to contend, greater economy in insect control is 

 to them a much desired condition. In the carrying out of their routine duties in 

 connection with clean-up work the county commissioners frequently find it neces- 

 sary for the good of a community to compel the treatment of an orchard for pests 

 when the grower is financially unable to undertake such a burden. It is then that 

 the great desirability of control so far as possible by natural enemies is brought 

 home to them. 



County commissioners, through the fact that they are continually patrolling the 

 entire state for insect infestations, have been of the greatest service to the insectary. 

 With our limited staff of entomologists it would be impossible to keep in touch with 

 orchard conditions throughout the state if we did not have this help. It is some- 

 times necessary to find on short notice a suitable place for colonizing new parasites, 

 and for this purpose we can make use of information which the commissioners are 

 able to supply. They are also frequently of great assistance in procuring for us 

 quantities of host material on which we can breed our natural enemies. In the 

 handling of the common ladybird, Hippodrtmia converges, they have undertaken a 

 large part of the field work and in this way have enabled us to make a more just 

 distribution of these predators. Requests which come to us for colonies of beneficial 

 insects to be sent out of the state are also often complied with through the knowledge 

 which the commissioners gain by their continued presence in the orchards. 



In return for all this active assistance on the part of the commissioners we hope 

 the insectary has been of some service to them in the identification of material and 

 in helping them to aid the growers in their insect problems. H. S. S. 



THE SOUTHERN BRANCH INSECTARY. 



The work of our southern branch of the insectary at Alhambra is now well under 

 way and gives promise of results of much value to the growers of subtropical fruits. 

 Our present efforts are almost entirely confined to the various mealybug and closely- 

 related problems, although later we will study other citrus and subtropical fruit 

 insects. The most important project has to do with the citrophilus mealybug, now 

 occurring in several places in the orange belt and causing great damage to the 

 industry. We are expecting to help solve the problem through cooperative work 

 with the Citrus Experiment Station and the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture. It has been shown that the common citrus mealybug may be largely con- 

 trolled by its natural enemies, providing the Argentine ants are kept from the 



