THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



457 



$3(>,000 a month and a total destruction to date of over 100,000 bearing citrus trees 

 and over 3,000,000 citrus nursery trees in an effort to eradicate this serious citrus 

 disease; with white pine blister rust established in the Northeastern States and 

 threatening the destruction of timber in this country, valued at over $400,000,000; 

 with cotton boll weevil threatening the life of the cotton industry of the country ; with 

 citrus white fly costing the growers of the southern states thousands of dollars 

 annually for control alone; with none of the pests mentioned yet established within 

 the state, and they do not include, by far, all that are knocking for admittance; with 

 those scale pests of the citrus already introduced and established within the state 

 costing tin' growers over a million dollars annually, for fumigation alone; with Tit* 

 per cent of the interstate shipments of horticultural material being carried by the 

 mails ami with less than 25 per cent of the post offices carrying out the complicated 

 regulations provided for placing such parcels where they may be inspected — are there, 

 under the present system, any parcel post horticultural material dangers? 



FRUIT INSPECTION IN THE SAN FRANCISCO MARKETS. 



By Dudley Moulton, County Horticultural Commissioner, San Francisco, Cal. 



The improved markets for fruit ami vegetables since the passage of the fruit 

 standardization laws have benefited San Francisco perhaps more than any other- 

 one place in California. It has been common practice of fruit growers heretofore 



to consign their second-grade fruits to this local 

 market. We were never able under the old laws to 

 properly correct this condition, but recently it has 

 been a simple matter. We have adopted a general 

 plan of requesting merchants when they receive ship- 

 ments, which are of inferior quality or not properly 

 packed or marked, that they write to the shippers 

 notifying them that unless their products arrive in 

 the San Francisco markets in compliance with the 

 new laws, that they will be confiscated or returned. 

 In this way we have been using the power of 

 persuasion and have obtained a hearty cooperation 

 of merchants. However, we have returned many lots 

 to the shippers and have sent others to the garbage 

 collector, when the shippers have persisted in ignoring 

 our requests. Anyone passing through our San 

 Francisco markets now can see a very marked 

 improvement in the quality of products offered for 

 sale. 



The merchants of San Francisco distribute their 

 goods to all parts of the world. Almost every out- 

 bound ship carries in its cargo oranges, lemons, apples, potatoes and onions ; these 

 are shipped in large quantities to Australia, New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands and 

 Other parts. Most of these shipments must be certified that they are free and clean 

 of insect pests and plant diseases. All will readily appreciate that an improvement 

 in the grades of fruits received in San Francisco will raise the standard of products 

 which are shipped out. Merchants in foreign markets will recognize the quality 

 of California grown products which will mean more than anything else to help 

 build up our foreign trade. 



The Colombo market is strictly a local organization composed of Italian gardeners 

 who bring their vegetables from near-by districts. The vegetables here are for 

 most part clean and fresh, but the general improvement of all grades and the 

 enforcement of fruit standardization laws has had a marked effect on this strictly 

 local trade. San Francisco residents are now able to get the best of fruit and 

 vegetable products for their table and in this respect the consumers are benefited 

 by the new laws. We feel that the standardization of fruit and vegetable products 

 has been the most marked advance that has come in the fruit industry during many 

 years. 



