234 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



sale in the markets closely. The only Hawaiian fruit to be found 

 were the Vi apples, pineapples, bananas, and Kona oranges ; all other 

 fruit was of California origin. Vegetables were numerous and of 

 many varieties. From a superficial observation, evidence of the attack 

 of flies was commonly apparent in cucumbers, string beans and 

 peppers, and present but less common on the Kona oranges exposed 

 for sale. 1 did not see any adult fruit-flies upon the fruit or around 

 the markets at any time during my visit. 



Pursuing this matter of ships' supplies, I eventually got in touch 

 with Ah Chew, the Chinese comprador, who has long held and still 

 retains a monopoly of the business of furnishing vessels with fruit 

 and vegetables for use as stores. The conference was not profitable. 

 The Chinaman was subtle and not to be inveigled into any confidences 

 concerning the details of the business, his only point of interest being 

 the possible raising of the embargo placed upon the material by Cali- 

 fornia; all other phases of the topic he dexterously avoided answering. 

 Of one thing only regarding this matter am I confident. There is no 

 inspection or control of this material nor any attempt made to so do 

 by any official in Honolulu. The burden of Ah Chew's song would 

 lead me to believe that the ships are purchasing much less than 

 formerly, but the traffic still prevails to some extent, as was demon- 

 si rated by the presence of several host fruits on the menu and tables 

 of the steamer upon which I returned to San Francisco. 



The records of the San Francisco station of the quarantine service 

 furnish proof that the fruit and vegetables comprising ships' stores 

 are the most prolific means of bringing the fruit-fly in its immature 

 stages to the mainland. It is held that this material, even if unde- 

 tected, would never reach the shore, but to those who have intimate 

 knowledge of the entire situation, ample evidence has been furnished 

 that even its association in the ships' vegetable lockers with other 

 articles supplies a means for the undetected transportation of the 

 larvre or pupte of the fly across the quarantine lines into areas where 

 reproduction might be possible. It is my opinion that one Federal 

 inspector devoting his time to the supervision of ships' supplies pur- 

 chased in Honolulu, not for the purpose of detecting infested or 

 attacked specimens but for the prevention of all known host fruits or 

 vegetables from being taken on board, would furnish a far greater 

 source of protection to the producers of the mainland than the com- 

 bined efforts of the entire force that are devoting their energies to 

 the gathering up and destroying of fruit from which most of the 

 maggots have already escaped as a natural result of impact with the 

 ground upon which it had fallen, and I sincerely hope such a system 

 of control can be brought about. 



HORTICULTURAL EXPORTS BY EXPRESS. 



There is no official inspection whatever of horticultural products 

 carried by the Wells Fargo Express Company as express matter from 

 any island port to the mainland. From Mr. AYilliams, the general 

 manager of Wells Fargo Express Company in charge of this busi- 

 ness in the islands, and at present located at Honolulu, I learned that 

 the volume of such material offered for shipment is very small indeed. 

 This corroborates our o-\vn records at the port of San Francisco. 



