98 
Banana Plant Quarantine (Foreign) —The acting Secretary of 
Agriculture has issued Notice of Quarantine No. 31, stating 
that, on and after April 1, 1918, the importation into the United 
States from all foreign countries of all species and varieties of 
banana plants (Musa spp.), or portions thereof is forbidden. 
The purpose of this quarantine is to prevent the introduction of 
an injurious insect, the banana root-borer (Cosmopolites sordidus 
Germar), new to and. not heretofore widely prevalent or distrib- 
uted within and throughout the United States. An exception is 
made of specimens imported for experimental or other scientific 
purposes, and the order places no restrictions on the importation 
of the fruit of the banana. 
Dr. Olive spent June 3-8 in company with Prof. H. H. Wetzel, 
of Cornell University, in a week’s trip to study the plant disease 
conditions among the orchards and farms of the Hudson River 
Valley. This work is carried on in cooperation with the United 
States Department of Agriculture in an effort to increase food 
production by the checking and cure, as far as possible, of plant 
diseases. Much winter injury was encountered among the apple 
and other fruit trees, as well as considerable apple rust, onion 
smut, asparagus rust, and other similar diseases. Collections 
were made of most of these diseases, and much information was 
disseminated among the farmers and county farm bureau agents 
looking to disease control. 
A Botanical Highway—The Christian Science Monitor is 
authority for the statement that the Pacific Highway, designed 
to extend from British Columbia to Mexico, will be developed on 
either side as a continuous botanic garden and arboretum. Por- 
tions of this international roadway were constructed before the 
United States entered the war. According to the Momitor the 
movement to develop the highway along botanical lines was 
started in Santa Barbara, Calif., by the World’s Botanical Gar- 
den Association. It is stated that the central garden and nursery 
for southern species will be located at Santa Barbara. The bo- 
tanic garden idea is spreading in America. The editor of the 
Recorp has elsewhere urged the establishment of botanic gar- 
dens in all American cities having a population of 10,000 or more. 
