No. 4.J STATE NURSERY IxXSPECTOR. 183 



State whence it comes; but it is also true that inspectors 

 differ in the thoroughness with which they do their work, 

 and therefore some certificates mean more than others. Dur- 

 ing the past fall five complaints of the receipt of infested 

 stock from Massachusetts have been made. In three of these 

 cases only a small portion of the shipment was infested, and 

 this portion was found to have been bought by the nursery- 

 men; in other words, the infested stock had never been seen 

 by the inspector under whose certificate it was finally sent 

 out. In the other two cases the source of the infested stock 

 could not be learned, and it is only fair to say that inspectors 

 are not infallible, and that they may and certainly do miss 

 more or less stock which is infested. 



At the conference of the Governors of ^NTew England last 

 i^ovember, one topic considered was that of developing the 

 industry of fruit raising. After some discussion this was 

 referred to representatives of the Boards or departments of 

 Agi'iculture of the different States and to the State entomol- 

 ogists. A meeting of these followed, and it became evident 

 that a distinct advantage could be obtained by establishing 

 laws which, so far as possible, would be uniform throughout 

 New England, and the nursery inspectors were requested to 

 formulate such a law. This work has been completed by 

 them after numerous sessions and consultations with the 

 nursery inspectors of other parts of the country, and the 

 result, in the form of a new law governing nursery and or- 

 chard inspection in Massachusetts, has been presented to a 

 committee of the Board appointed to consider this subject. 

 I would recommend that the Board adopt the recommenda- 

 tion of the committee, and urge the passage of the bill by 

 the present Legislature as a substitute for the one now in 

 force. 



FiNAXCiAL Statement. 



Appropriation, $2,000 00 



Compensation of inspectors, .... $9G0 00 

 Travellinij and necessary expenses of in- 

 spectors, 772 83 



Supplies (postage, etc.), 3 45 



Unexpended balance, 263 72 



$2,000 00 



