April, '21] o'byrne: standardized nursery inspection 183 



of such a shape and size as to be easily concealed, were found about 

 the waists of two of them. These bags contained a total of twelve 

 avocadoes and three mangoes. On another occasion a Mexican woman, 

 who had been stopped, proved herself so undependable when questioned, 

 that the inspector on duty persuaded himself to break open what 

 appeared to be a perfectly normal loaf of bread. It contained several 

 avocadoes. The woman had gone to the trouble to bake a thin crust 

 of bread around a small nimiber of avocadoes. Then there are the old 

 and often tried practices of hiding prohibited material in the pockets, 

 under a large sombrero hat, or concealing it in the pockets or under the 

 seats of automobiles and buggies. New tricks are constantly being tried, 

 but these are good examples of the methods used and show how per- 

 sistently people try to bring in material in violation of the law. At 

 Eagle Pass an average of 1,500 passengers at the foot bridge are inspected 

 each day; this average is increased to 5,000 at Laredo; while at El Paso 

 the inspector at the footbridge has to supervise the crossing of some 

 10,000 persons daily. 



There are in all at the different border ports, twenty-four Plant Quaran- 

 tine Inspectors who are schooled in the various activities of the Federal 

 Horticultural Board and each of the twenty-four is performing a signal 

 service for the country at large. 



Chairman Sanders: The next paper is by Professor F. M. O'Byme 

 of Gainesville, Florida. 



STANDARDIZED NURSERY INSPECTION 



By F. M. O'Byrne 



There is almost constant agitation by the nation's nurserymen for a 

 uniform nursery inspection law. The many varying inspection laws 

 are confusing and troublesome. They feel that the laws should be so 

 changed that the inspection provided in each state will be sufficient to 

 carr\' plants from any state to any point in the Union. 



While the advantages of such laws are obvious, I frankly despair 

 of ever seeing them in force. Pests that are the most destructive in the 

 vSouth are often ignored in the North, and vice versa. 



This does not mean that it is impossible to standardize nursery 

 inspection laws the nation over. There are many conflicting require- 

 ments that can be eliminated. 



The following suggestions, while not corr.plete, will indicate points 

 on which standardization is desirable: 



