February, '11] MARLATT: NATIONAL QUARANTINE 107 



NEED OF NATIONAL CONTROL OF IMPORTED NURSERY 



STOCK! 



By C. L. Marlatt, Bu. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agric, Washington, D. C. 



The need of national quarantine legislation for the protection of 

 the fruit and forest interests of this country from the accidental 

 introduction of new and dangerous insect enemies or plant diseases 

 on imported nursery stock or other living vegetable products has been 

 long appreciated, and requires no argument. 



The United States is practically^ the only one of the great nations 

 of the world which is without legislation protecting it in this particu- 

 lar. The considerable lessening of yield and higher cost of produc- 

 tion of many important staples, particularly fruits, is directly charge- 

 able, in large measure, to the lack of such protective legislation in 

 the past, as will be shown by a number of illustrations to be subse- 

 quently given. Furthermore, there is now an increased risk in this 

 country over that normally existing by the introduction of foreign 

 stock without inspection or other means of safeguarding, in that the 

 protection which other countries have from proper legislation naturally 

 results in this country being made the dumping ground for refuse 

 and inferior stock. This state of affairs was brought out strongly 

 by Dr. J. B. Smith, entomologist of the State of New Jersey, in his 

 testimony before the House Committee on Agriculture at the last 

 session of Congress. In his testimony Dr. Smith described the impor- 

 tation by large department stores of New York and Philadelphia 

 of a mixture of inferior stock of fruit and ornamental plants massed 

 down in large boxes, thousands of plants in a single case. This 

 largely worthless, and often infested stock, is being distributed by 

 these agencies either at a very low price or as gifts to customers, and 

 goes in small parcels here and there where it cannot be followed, and 

 necessarily entails the greatest risk of introduction of dangerous 

 pests or plant diseases. 



The regular importing nurserymen endeavor to get, and do nor- 

 mally get, good stock, which generally arrives in fair condition; 

 but often such stock, as will be shown later, carries with it the gravest 

 risk of introducing dangerous plant enemies. 



The only important port of this country that has a jjlant quaran- 

 tine service is San Francisco. There, for the last twenty years, a 



^This paper is a reprint of one submitted to the House Committee on Agricul- 

 ture, and published with the report of that committee, recommending the pending 

 quarantine bill (Report No. 1858). 



