Till': MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



437 



INSPECTION AT POINT OF ORIGIN. 



By Geo. Marchbank, County Horticultural Commissioner, Madera, Cal. 



This is a subject that looks very simple at first glance, but the more angles we 

 view it from, the more complicated it becomes. The subject was suggested ; had I 

 followed my own inclination, I would have chosen one more easy. I think most 



of us will agree that the best time and place to 

 thoroughly inspect nursery stock is at the digging 

 time, in the nursery, when the trees are being dog 

 and pulled from the ground. 



Digging Trees — The digger used in the nursery is 

 a large U-shaped implement drawn by from ten to 

 sixteen large mules (number varies with size of the 

 trees and condition of the soil). This implement, 

 as the name would imply, does not remove the trees 

 from the ground, but merely severs the roots at a 

 good depth. The men who follow the digger are 

 divided into several sections or crews. First come 

 the pullers who pull the trees out of the ground. 

 These men are required to remove as much earth 

 from the trees as possible, by shaking or jarring, 

 and to be on the outlook for crowngall, and when 

 any is observed the tree is broken and thrown to one 

 side to be later burned. Next come the graders, who 

 take the tree with one hand and with the palm of 

 the other (the use of the pruning shears for this 

 purpose is discouraged to prevent injury) give the 

 base of the tree a sharp blow or two to remove all the soil possible so that the root 

 system will be visible. These men are required to make a very minute inspection 

 of every tree before grading as to size. The inspector follows the graders to detect 

 anything that might slip through unnoticed by the pullers and graders so that every 

 tree is inspected three times before it is removed from the ground and heeled in. 



Reinfestation — Apples and pears where wooly aphis exists, may become reinfested 

 while heeled in, in the nursery, or sales-yard, and these trees should always be 

 inspected again at the packing shed before shipment is made. 



In the case of hothouse plants and citrus trees, a single inspection would not 

 sufficiently protect the grower, for at the point of origin the plants may be apparently 

 clean, yet the mealy bug and red scale be present in the egg state or in so minute a 

 form as not to be observed, and develop on the journey so that a number of examples 

 might be cited wherein inspection at the point of origin would not sufficiently protect. 

 Deciduous Trees — I am of the opinion that if all deciduous nursery stock were 

 handled as heretofore described, it would save a great deal of time, trouble, and 

 expense and would result in great efficiency and economy. As to the value of such 

 an inspection, the whole matter, it would appear to me, rests on the question : Can 

 men be trusted to inspect with the same degree of exactness at the point of origin as 

 they do at the point of destination? I think they can if it is required of them. 



