194 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 14 



desire to ship greenhouse plants do so on the grounds that such plants 

 do not come under the regular nursery inspection requirements. Technic- 

 ally this view is correct. The second alternative is to inspect the plants 

 and issue a certificate if the plants are free from insect pests and plant 

 diseases at the time of inspection and if measures are being taken by the 

 grower to keep them so. The third alternative is to issue qualified 

 certificates of inspection provided there are no dangerously injurious 

 insects or diseases present or new and uncommon ones which are very 

 restricted in their distribution. Certain combinations of these three 

 alternatives are in use in some states. In these cases if a grower is refused 

 a certificate of inspection he can ship his plants by merely attaching a 

 statement to them that they are greenhouse grown and are thus exempt 

 from inspection. Thus the man who grows clean stock for distribution 

 is at a disadvantage in that he must compete with the one who does not. 

 Also in such cases anyone who wants to sell greenhouse plants, no matter 

 how badly they are infested with insects or infected with diseases, can 

 sell them and there is nothing in most states that will protect the buyer 

 of these plants except the contract he has with the man from whom he is 

 buying. 



Now if the certification of greenhouse plants is undertaken what shall 

 the basis of such certification be ? How often and when shall the plants 

 be inspected? Thirty days will often change the entire aspect of the 

 insect and disease conditions in greenhouses. If there is but a single 

 inspection when shall that be ? The presence of the rose midge may not 

 even be suspected if an inspection is made from December to March. 

 Chrysanthemum midge, especially where a light infestation occurs, 

 might be overlooked if the inspection were made during the summer, 

 from the last of June to the first of October. During the months from 

 December to April only the most careful inspection would reveal the 

 occurrence of the strawberry root-worm. 



In general, it might be said that two inspections, one in the summer 

 and one in the winter, ought to give the inspector a good idea not only 

 of the insect and disease conditions in a given greenhouse but also an 

 idea of the grower's ability to "clean up" his plants and keep them so. 



Chairman Sanders: We are glad to have these observations on a 

 rather new line of inspection which is coming more' and more to the 

 front in this country, particularly in some of the larger states where 

 florists' establishments occupy an important place in horticulture. 



If there is no discussion of this paper, we will proceed to the next 

 nimiber by J. E. Graf of Maccleny, Florida. 



