166 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 15 



France 



The great fruit seedling nurseries are located in the vicinity of Orleans 

 and Angers in the Loire district. The chief plants grown for export 

 are fruit, rose and conifer stocks, although ornamentals, grafted and 

 budded roses and perennials are grown in very large quantities. 



In the Orleans district the number of firms that really do an export 

 business does not exceed ten, whereas there are about five hundred grow- 

 ers altogether. All the large growers contract with farmers in the 

 surroimding district to grow fruit stocks for them. About twelve 

 hundred and fifty acres of land are devoted to the growing of nursery 

 stock. One firm propagates one million fruit stocks, and three milUon 

 roses a year; they also graft about six hundred thousand, and bud two 

 hundred and fifty thousand roses. The small cultivators grow about 

 ten million seedlings a year. 



In the Angers district which is larger in extent than the foregoing, 

 there are about six large exporters and about fifteen hundred to two 

 thousand small cultivators. 



The apples are grown from the seed of wild native apples, planted 

 broadcast in beds very early in the spring (February), as soon as they 

 are well started they are transplanted to beds and placed in rows, and 

 are usually sold as one or two year transplants. The seedlings are dug 

 in November, and packed and shipped in February. 



French Inspection Service. The inspection service is divided into 

 two main divisions (1) entomological, (2) phytopathological. The 

 entomological service is in charge of a Director with headquarters at 

 Paris. The service is further divided as follows; (a) inspectors, who 

 visit the various nurseries which have plants for export, and see that 

 the latter are free from pests, they also deliver the certificates; (b) 

 the assistant inspectors act as general assistants to the inspectors in 

 their work; (c) the controllers are resident in the district to which they 

 are attached ; they pay special attention to the general condition of the 

 plants. During the simimer one controller and two inspectors were 

 stationed at Angers and two inspectors at Orleans. All the nurseries 

 are inspected twice each year in the spring or early summer and in the 

 fall. The inspectors visit the nurseries at time of packing but are not 

 present at any one nursery throughout the season. 



A serious outbreak of brown tails has been present in the Loire district 

 for the past three years. An attempt has been made to clean up orchards 

 in the vicinity of nurseries, by the removal of winter webs, and no old 

 nests were actually seen in the nurseries themselves. Last year the 

 Department paid out thirty thousand francs for the collection of winter 



