DANGER OF SPREAD OF GIPSY AND BROWN-TAIL MOTHS. 9 



The situation in the District of Columbia is probably the worst 

 in the United States, inasmuch as there is no law whatever winch 

 authorizes the examination or inspection of nursery stock imported 

 into the District. Examination of stock imported by local depart- 

 ment stores, by nurserymen, and that sent for auction, as noted above, 

 can be made only by officials of the Department of Agriculture 

 through the courtesy of these different receivers of such stock. Very 

 often such courtesy is scant, or refusal is made to open up the stock 

 or separate it so that it can be properly examined. Such stock, 

 when reported, has, however, been as thoroughly inspected as con- 

 ditions permitted. It is sold to a multitude of purchasers, many of 

 whom reside in near-by points in Virginia and Maryland, and thus 

 finds entry into these States without the knowledge of the State 

 officials. 



NATURE OF INSPECTION AND LIKELIHOOD OF LOCAL 

 INFESTATION. 



As already indicated, the principal function of the Bureau of 

 Entomology has been to get as complete information of importations 

 as possible and transmit this information to the State inspectors, 

 where such existed, of the several States. In some instances, 

 where no local means of inspection was available, the imported 

 material was inspected directly by agents of this bureau. In most 

 of the States receiving infested goods the inspection made was con- 

 scientious and thorough. In some instances, however, the inspection 

 was undoubtedly indifferent or worthless. This is illustrated by the 

 fact that material received by a large Missouri nurseryman, and on 

 his own statement " carefully inspected/' was reshipped by him to 

 Maryland, still infested with the brown-tail moth. 



The condition of the imported nursery stock is such as to make 

 inspection difficult and also to render it practically impossible to 

 be absolutely sure that the inspection has resulted in the detection 

 and destruction of all larvse. The nests themselves are sufficiently 

 prominent to be easily seen if the masses of thousands of plants 

 in a case are properly separated so that each can be given indi- 

 vidual examination. This means, however, a lot of time and abso- 

 lute conscientiousness on the part of the inspector. 



Many of the nests, however, in the process of packing and unpack- 

 ing become broken and the minute larvae are scattered more or less 

 through the seedling stock and also in the packing material. Under 

 these conditions, the chance of larvae being overlooked by the 

 inspector is very great. It by no means follows, therefore, that 

 even where material is located and inspected the brown-tail moth 

 and perhaps other pests have not been introduced. Furthermore, 

 87582 Bull. 45311 2 



