126 LEGISLATION AGAINST PLANT DISEASES AND PESTS 



ratification. This Convention, if accepted by the prin- 

 cipal countries of the world, as is generally expected will 

 be the case, may have an important bearing on inter- 

 national trade in plants, and will profoundly influence 

 the nature of not only the restrictions at present imposed 

 on importation, but also the internal regulations designed 

 to extirpate or control the more serious plant diseases. 

 Thirty-one independent States or dependencies were 

 represented, while one or two others who did not send 

 delegates signified their agreement with the principle 

 involved. There was very little disagreement among 

 those who were present, for all were bent on securing a 

 definite result, and the proposals were generally moderate 

 and reasonable. But as the larger number of delegates 

 represented European States, whose climate is temperate 

 or only semi-tropical, it is certain that the interest of 

 those countries received a greater share of attention in 

 the discussions which took place than those of countries 

 lying within the tropical zone. Representatives of Chile, 

 Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, the Indian Empire, 

 and Guatemala were present, but, except in the case of 

 India, they were all diplomatists, and apparently not 

 specially conversant with tropical agriculture, still less 

 with the pests which beset plants in tropical regions. No 

 one was there to speak on behalf of any part of Africa, 

 except the French delegates who represented Morocco, 

 Algiers, and Tunis. There was no representative of the 

 United States, the West Indies, Brazil, or Australia. It 

 is only natural, therefore, that the special difficulties 

 connected with tropical conditions were barely mentioned 

 in the discussions, and not at all in the Convention. As, 

 however, it was undoubtedly the intention of those 

 present at the Conference to prepare a scheme which 

 should be of world-wide application, it is worth while 

 considering the details of the proposed Convention to see 

 how far it can be adopted in hotter countries, and what 

 would be the effect on the legislation and administration 

 now in force in such places. I propose, therefore, to 

 give an epitome of the Phytopathological Convention of 

 Rome, and, as far as I am able, a short summary of the 

 regulations in force in tropical countries, with a few 



