140 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 84 



presence of trichinae in inspected American meats, and the Ger- 

 man decree in i8(j8 against the importation of American fruits. 1 

 then went on to tell of the efiforts that had been made on the part of 

 the peoi)le most vitally interested and on the part of the officials of 

 the Department of Agriculture at Washington to secure the passage 

 of protective legislation for the United States ; and concluded with 

 the following remarks : 



Never before in the history of the Republic has the urgency of such a law 

 been so great. We are menaced on all sides not only by unknown dangers but 

 by a number which are thoroughly well understood. 



The Mediterranean fruit fly, an insect which destroys practically all kinds 

 of fruit, filling them with its disgusting maggots and causing them to drop and 

 to decay, has made its appearance in Hawaii, and every bit of fruit landing on 

 our Pacific coast from the Island of Oahu is quite likely to contain this insect 

 in one stage or another, and in the absence of quarantine its establishment in 

 this country sooner or later is a certainty. With the knowledge of what this 

 insect has done in Western Australia, in South Africa and on the Island of 

 Oahu, it is obvious that no worse calamity could befall the fruit-growing industry 

 of this country than the introduction of this pest. A prompt quarantine on all 

 Hawaiian fruit is the only thing that can save us. 



But we are confronting an equally dire emergency on the other side. Last 

 year the potato crop of the country as a whole was a failure, and we are now 

 importing potatoes from all available sources ; potato growers are importing 

 seed potatoes from Europe, and they are coming in every day without inspection 

 and without reference to the prevalence of disease in the regions from which 

 they are sent to us. It so happens that in many parts of Europe there exists at 

 the present time one of the most serious of all known diseases of the potato : 

 it converts a tuber into an ugly, irregular and utterly unsalable growth. When 

 established in a field it may afTect the entire crop and the land remains so 

 infected that potatoes cannot be successfully grown for six or more years. The 

 disease is known as the " wart disease," " black scab," " the canker," and " the 

 cauliflower," and is caused by a fungus. It occurs at present in Scotland, Wales, 

 Germany and Hungary. It has already crossed the Atlantic and has become 

 prevalent in Newfoundland ; our neighbor, Canada, has quarantined against 

 Newfoundland potatoes, but Newfoundland can send her potatoes to the United 

 States without let or hindrance. There should be in this country a rigorous 

 quarantine at this moment against potatoes from Newfoundland, Scotland, 

 Wales, Germany and Hungary. 



Botanists have known for some time of a dangerous European disease of 

 the white pine, which also aff^ects other five-needle pines and occurs on wild 

 and cultivated currants and gooseberries. This disease has been imported into 

 America at several places, but by active cooperation among the persons interested 

 all cases found have been eradicated. This disease is known as the " blister 

 rust " and its effect upon pines is disastrous ; the fungus is sure to kill a tree 

 if the attack is on the stem, and most of the young trees attacked on the. stem 

 die the first season Its introduction into our valuable pine forests would be a 

 national calamity, yet nurserymen may bring pine trct's at their will from the 

 worst infested regions of Europe. Moreover, even a patriotic and honest 

 American importer of nursery stock is easily deceived by the dishonest European 



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