220 JOURNAT. OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 9 



source from which new plants and plant products are imported, scores 

 of packages are received from diplomatic and consular officials, bo- 

 tanical collectors, travelers, missionaries, and amateur plant lovers 

 abroad. Moreover, the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction 

 has its own trained agricultural explorers who travel through foreign 

 countries studying the native flora and they secure and forward to this 

 country such seeds and plants as seem promising. Other offices of the 

 ^Department also import plants and plant products; for example, 

 quantities of seeds and bulbs are brought in for congressional distri- 

 bution. The office of Crop Physiology and Plant Breeding Investi- 

 gations introduces new and promising citrus plants and seeds. The 

 Offices of Cereal Investigations and Forage Crop Investigations 

 bring in seeds of cereals and forage plants, and the Bureau of Forestry 

 introduces tree seeds. In fact, it is safe to say that at one time or 

 another practically every bureau of the Department of Agriculture 

 introduces nursery stock of some description. It is obvious, therefore, 

 that in order to properly inspect and safeguard such material adequate 

 inspection facilities are essential. However, as a further protection 

 many of the plants, after having passed the initial inspection, or 

 after a definite period in quarantine, are grown at one of the four field 

 stations maintained by the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduc- 

 tion, and are again inspected at the time of distribution. 



Method of Inspecting Imported Nursery Stock 



No imported nursery stock is inspected until an inspection card has 

 been prepared and placed with the unopened plants or plant products 

 indicating the kind, quantity, and origin of the material, and, when 

 possible, the proposed destination. Naturally, the latter is more or 

 less dependent upon the findings of the pathological and entomolog-. 

 ical inspectors. In addition to the serial number assigned by the Office 

 of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, each introduction receives a 

 Federal Horticultural Board number, which is placed on the inspection 

 cards. These numbers serve to identify the introduction at any time 

 in the future and make immediately available all necessary information 

 regarding its source, name, method of culture, etc., thus rendering it 

 possible to have a connected history of the plants manj^ years after 

 their introduction. 



Questionable seeds, cuttings, plants, buds, or bud sticks, or those 

 harboring insects or diseases of any description, are either destroyed 

 or subjected to disinfection and grown under observation in a specially 

 screened quarantine greenhouse far removed from the area of culti- 

 vation. 



