302 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 9 



the quarantine system. The points principally affected are from Ogden 

 north to the Utah state line where much of the planting for the last 

 twenty-five years has been made with the idea of supplying the Mon- 

 tana market. The production of berries and bush fruits, which of 

 necessity must go into nearby markets, is large throughout this section. 

 The matter of readjusting the market for the fruit, etc., which had 

 otherwise gone into Montana has caused a demoralization in the 

 remaining local markets and a consequent serious financial loss. The 

 competition of the Utah fruit in the Montana markets was from Oregon 

 and Washington, but with the establishment of the quarantine, fruits 

 and vegetables from Utah were shut out, and although the quarantine 

 has since been modified, the Montana market has been lost to the 

 growers of this state with no gain to Montana in the way of protection 

 from the alfalfa weevil. 



Another very serious injustice has been done to the state of Utah 

 by including alfalfa seed in quarantine measures. When we refer to 

 alfalfa weevil, the average layman and seedsman immediately associate 

 it with a large group of weevils which infest seed of all kinds and figure 

 naturally that it is a seed weevil. As a matter of fact it has nothing 

 whatever to do with alfalfa seed and is never in any way associated 

 with it and yet it has been the cause of a very vital prejudice against 

 Utah seed in certain markets. 



Under-ground routes have been established to a hmited extent so 

 that the object of the quarantine was defeated. The quarantine of 

 Utah alfalfa seed had the effect of cutting the price of Utah seed in one 

 of the states from thirteen cents to eight cents per pound, while the 

 price of seed from the surrounding states, of course, was not affected. 

 The result was that Utah seed immediately lost its identity as a Utah 

 product and was shipped by way of other states into states having 

 quarantines at the full market price. If the transportation of quaran- 

 tined articles had presented any danger, the evil was far greater by the 

 under-ground route than if the goods had gone through the usual hues 

 of traffic where they could be protected by an inspection system. Ex- 

 perience with these quarantines shows above all things that where 

 there is no cooperation between states none of them gets the protection 

 which the quarantine anticipates. 



The establishment of irrational and arbitrary quarantines, especially 

 where they affect important items of commerce, is apt to lead to retali- 

 atory measures being adopted by commercial interests which are 

 affected and increases the danger of spreading the pest by incendiary 

 measures through districts which seek by means of their quarantines 

 to keep it out. There are some cases on record where incendiary 

 methods have been adopted by commercial interests for their own 



