2 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION CIRCULAR 101 



root first gained their admission to Missouri on nursery stock. The tax paid 

 to insect pests and diseases by the Missouri fruit growers in the last fifty 

 years has amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars. Much of this loss 

 could have been prevented had the real value of inspection work and the 

 control of insects and diseases been realized sooner. 



Several of the more prominent nurserymen and fruit growers of Mis- 

 souri did realize the value of inspection work and for a number of years 

 before Missouri had an inspection service they secured the assistance of the 

 entomologists of the Agricultural Experiment Station and had their nurs- 

 eries and orchards inspected annually. However, due to the expense, only 

 the larger and more prosperous nurserymen and orchardists felt that they 

 could afford to have their premises inspected each year. 



The need of a good inspection service for Missouri, which would be 

 state wide, and which would reach out to; the little nursery men and or-* 

 chardists as well as the large ones, became so apparent that in 1913 the 

 State Legislature passed a Nursery Inspection Law providing for the in- 

 spection of plants by the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station. This 

 law was approved by the Governor March 27, 1913. 



The purpose of the Law is to prevent the further introduction of San 

 Jose scale and other dangerously injurious insects and plant diseases, and 

 to suppress as far as possible those pests which may have secured a foot- 

 hold in this state. This Law also provides fully for the most careful in- 

 spection of suspected plants and for the destruction of badly diseased plants, 

 the distribution of which might result in serious consequences to the farm- 

 ers and fruit growers of Missouri. 



The Nursery Inspection Law further provides that it shall be the duty 

 of the Agricultural Experiment Station at Columbia to seek out, suppress 

 and eradicate San Jose scale and other dangerous insect pests and plant 

 diseases affecting the agricultural and horticultural interests of the State of 

 Missouri. The Agricultural Experiment Station shall make necessary regu- 

 lations and shall be vested with all the powers necessary to carry into effect 

 the provisions of this Act. 



Section 2 of the Law authorizes the official inspectors to enter any 

 grounds or other premises for inspection and eradication of insects and 

 diseases. It further authorizes the Agricultural Experiment Station to 

 carry on demonstrations and experiments dealing with insect control and 

 to give information on the control of insects and plant diseases by lectures 

 and printed literature. 



Section 3 of the Law gives the Agricultural Experiment Station au- 

 thority to inspect from time to time nurseries, orchards, fruit plantations 

 or other property and if dangerous insect pests or plant diseases are found 

 it shall recommend the method of treatment. 



Section 4 of the Law provides that each person or corporation in the 

 state engaged in growing nursery stock for distribution shall notify the 

 office of the Plant Inspection Service on or before the first day of July of 

 each year and make application for the inspection of their nursery stock. 

 The Plant Inspection Service must inspect the stock before September 15. 

 Each individual or corporation importing nursery stock from a foreign 



