THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 411 



Quarantine. 



'Slv. Frederick Maskew, chief deputy quarantine otficer, stated that 

 if a quarantine were once placed on California potatoes it could not be 

 lifted by any legal process, and that the states M'hich were quarantining 

 against this insect could not be compelled to take the quarantine off. In 

 San Francisco the quarantine station maintained twenty-one quaran- 

 tines, of which thirteen are federal and eight are state. None of these 

 had ever been broken down. 



Few Potatoes Grown in Sacramento County. 



]Mr. Howard G. Kerchival, county horticultural commissioner of Sac- 

 ramento County, said that there were very few potatoes grown in Sacra- 

 mento County, and that they Avere already infested with the same 

 diseases that occurred in the Delta region. 



Oregon's Attitude. 



In a short talk State Commissioner of Horticulture E. C. Eoberts, of 

 Oregon, mentioned the fact that there had been considerable agitation 

 with a view to quarantining against California potatoes; he hoped that 

 they would be alile to reach an amicable arrangement, in order to avoid 

 quarantine. 



Washington's Attitude. 



Washington's attitude toward California was defined by INIr. T. 0. 

 [Morrison. Assistant Commissioner of Horticulture, in the following 

 terms: Washington wanted to be just towards California .shippers, but 

 would not permit tuber moth infested potatoes in that state. 



The Potato Situation in the "Delta" Region. 



Ml'. W. Y. Shear, of the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 spoke on the general situation in the Delta region. The Delta region, 

 lying at the mouths of the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers, covered 

 an area of 25,000 acres of valua])le land. The land has been reclaimed, 

 levees have been built and pumps installed to drain the land. Several 

 troubles, which sometimes wiped out the crops in large portions of the 

 world, were practically unknown here. The late blight was one of these 

 diseases. The early blight did little damage, and the Colorado potato 

 beetle was unknown. The potato producers in this section secured 

 greater cash returns per acre than from any other crop. As a result, 

 potatoes were raised on the same land three years in succession. Then 

 barley was planted, after this potatoes, then barley alternated. While 

 this rotation did not always follow it was by far the most common one 

 practiced. This plan had resulted in two sets of tenants, one class 

 of which always grows potatoes, the other barley. The seed potatoes 

 largely came from Oregon, Washington and other nearby states. This 

 outside seed was planted late in the season, and the yields from it were 

 used for the main part of the potato crop the following year. As the 

 potato diseases were carried on the potato .seed stock, when these Avere 

 planted the soil became inoculated. In this way the Delta soils became 

 infested with the potato diseases Avhich were found in the localities 

 from which the seed was imported. 



