154 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 15 



pass inspection, can live upon the millions of slips shipped out. Our 

 growers consider it a very important step in the agricultural problem, 

 and this is something too that will influence a great many of the Northern 

 states, since the sweet potato has been found to grow well, and profitable 

 yields have been made in that section. 



I think we should all express our confidence in the measures adopted 

 by Mr. Hamed in the state of Mississippi. 



Chairman Ruggles: If there are no more remarks, we will pass 

 on to the discussion of a paper presented at the Chicago meeting by 

 H. F. Dietz, "Some Problems in Greenhouse Inspection in Indiana." 



Mr. Sasscer: I purposely put this paper on the program in the 

 hope that it might provoke some discussion. Unfortunately, Mr. 

 Dietz' paper was read last year at the end of the session, and there was 

 little or no time for discussion. 



I don't know how much problems of this kind affect state inspectors, 

 or how far you attempt to go into inspection of materials distributed 

 from greenhouses. We in Washington, however, are seriously concerned 

 about this problem. 



As many of you Icnow, the Department of Agriculture is constantly 

 introducing new plants from remote parts of the world. During the 

 past ten or fifteen years we have intercepted many insects new to this 

 country , and it is impossible to tell what would have been the result if they 

 had been allowed to become established. 



Our practice is to examine this material carefully in the inspection 

 house upon arrival, and if there is the slightest doubt as to whether 

 there is any danger, or if an insect new to us is found, the material is 

 either burned, fumigated, or otherwise treated, and grown in what we 

 style a "quarantine house." As soon as the danger has disappeared, 

 this material is allowed to go to the field station at Bell, Maryland. We 

 have taken the stand that it would be taking an unnecessary risk to allow 

 material to leave the Bell greenhouses without an inspection at the time 

 of shipment. 



I might say that the greenhouses at Bell, at the present time, so far 

 as we know, are infested with only the common greenhouse insects, 

 but it frequently happens that we have a new pest under our eyes for 

 six or eight months and do not recognize it as such. For that reason we 

 are carefully inspecting the plants, not a month or seven weeks before, 

 but at the time of shipment. 



Temperature conditions in a greenhouse are comparable to the tropics. 

 An inspection today is not good two weeks hence. I should like to have 

 some expression as to whether or not the inspectors representing the 



