143 



Mail Importations of Plants and Seeds 

 From Foreign Countries 



By E. M. Ehrhorx, Superintendent of Entomology. 



For the information of the public it is necessary again to call 

 attention to the rules and regulations of the Federal Horticul- 

 tural Board of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, concerning 

 the sending of plants and seeds into the United States through 

 the mails from foreign countries. 



An order issued as far back as December 16, 1913, by the 

 Second Assistant Postmaster General, prohibits the importation 

 into the United States from foreign countries through the mails, 

 of all plants and plant products for propagation, including seeds, 

 except field, vegetable and flower seeds. This prohibition, there- 

 fore, applies to bulbs, roots and tubers, and to all seeds of trees, 

 palms, shrubs or other plants. It excepts only field, vegetable and 

 flower seeds, including rice, alfalfa, sorghum, panicum and other 

 field seeds ; lettuce, cabbage, radish, onion and other vegetable 

 seeds ; and pansy, sweetpea, carnation and other flower seeds, 

 which may be imported from foreign countries by mail. 



Cotton seed, which would be rated as a field seed, is, however, 

 forbidden entry into the United States from any foreign country, 

 except from certain states in Mexico, either by mail or any other 

 carrier; nor can cotton seed be sent from Hawaii into any part 

 or even through the United States. 



Therefore, under the order issued by the Second Assistant 

 Postmaster General, all nursery stock and other plant products, 

 including orchids and tree seeds, except as noted, which are 

 received in the mails from foreign countries, will be returned 

 by the postmaster at Honolulu, as prohibited, to the country and 

 place of origin. 



This order, therefore, restricts the carriage Of such products 

 from foreign countries to other means of conveyance, such as by 

 express or freight. 



Importations by these methods pass through the Customs' 

 office in the normal way, and are under complete control by them 

 and the plant quarantine service. 



The reason for this order should be apparent to all. The pos- 

 sibi-lity of transmitting many injurious insects and plant diseases 

 in packages of plants and seeds sent through the mails has been 

 proved, and the thorough inspection of such mail matter is 

 almost an impossibility, unless the department is furnished with 

 an army of men, which is out of the question. On the other hand, 

 consignments of seed and other plant products sent by express or 

 freight are more readily examined by the inspector, hence the 

 exception to this rule. 



