19191 EDITORIAL. 5 



ease of sugar cane discovered in Porto Rico are made in lieu of 

 funds derived from the emergency act. An increase of $5,000 is 

 provided for studies of diseases of orchards and other fruits. On 

 the other hand, the funds for the eradication of citrus canker are de- 

 creased from $250,000 to $196,320 because of the completion of the 

 campaign in Georgia and South Carolina. 



Several notable increases are made in the fund for combating in- 

 sect pests. The Bureau of Entomology receives $1,371,360 as com- 

 pared with $986,680 in the previous act, but a portion of this increase 

 is in lieu of $247,000 allotted the Bureau under the emergency act. 

 The salary of the chief is increased from $4,500 to $5,000. Special 

 allotments of $250,000 and $5,000, respectively, are made for two new 

 pests, the European com borer and the camphor thrip. The Euro- 

 pean corn borer, deemed the most dangerous insect pest of corn which 

 has ever appeared in this country, is spreading very rapidly from the 

 original point of discovery near Boston, Mass., and now occurs in 

 dangerous numbers in an area of over 1,000 square miles. The cam- 

 paign for its control is made cooperatively with the States con- 

 cerned, Massachusetts having appropriated $120,000, and New York 

 $100,000, for the purpose. Other increases are made in the allot- 

 ments for studies of several other insect pests, including the sweet 

 potato weevil, recently become a serious menace in portions of Geor- 

 gia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, the oriental fruit 

 moth, and the Japanese beetle. 



Additional provision for combating insect pests and diseases is 

 made through the allotments to the Federal Horticultural Board, 

 which receives $129,000, an increase of $54,200 over the previous year. 

 This increase is mainly for the cooperative campaign against the 

 very serious potato wart disease discovered in three counties of 

 Pennsylvania. Legislation providing a Plant Quarantine Act for 

 the District of Columbia was favorably recommended by both the 

 House and Senate Committees, but eliminated in each house on a 

 point of order. 



The funds for the campaign against the pink bollworm of cotton 

 are enlarged by $100,000, to provide for the disinfection in specially 

 constructed fumigation sheds on the Texas-Mexican border of 

 freight, baggage, and other materials entering the United States 

 from Mexico. A method has been worked out under which whole 

 trains of cars may be effectively fumigated in these sheds, the cost 

 of materials and labor being eventually defrayed by charges against 

 the shipments disinfected. 



The appropriation for the Bureau of Biological Survey is $742,170, 

 as compared with $586,350 plus $225,000 under the emergency act. 

 The largest item of increase is $75,000 for the enforcement of the 



