LEGISLATION AGAINST PLANT DISEASES AND PESTS 127 



observations on the changes in the latter which might 

 have to be made if the Convention is adopted. This, I 

 hope, will clear the ground for discussion; but as I have 

 no personal knowledge of tropical agriculture, I must 

 leave it to those who are good enough to listen to my 

 paper to say how far in their opinion the Convention is 

 applicable to the agricultural conditions with which they 

 are familiar. 



In the first place, therefore, it should be stated that 

 the Convention aims at securing that each adhering State 

 should take steps to eradicate, or at least control, the 

 more dangerous diseases with which it is beset, and 

 should devote their energies to that purpose rather than 

 the examination of imported plants. The idea is a 

 realization of the old proverb that if everyone swept his 

 own doorstep we should have a clean street. With this 

 object each State is required to maintain one or more 

 establishments of technical and scientific research, an 

 organization of effective inspection of all nurseries, 

 gardens, glasshouses, and other establishments offering 

 living plants for sale, together with an organization for 

 the issue of phytopathological certificates of health and 

 the regulation of transport. The word " plants " in this 

 article means plants or parts of plants used for cultivation 

 (though cut flowers are also included), and it excludes 

 vines (dealt with under the Berne Convention, which it is 

 hoped will be universally adopted), grain, seeds, potatoes, 

 edible bulbs and roots, and fruit, as well as produits de 

 grande culture, a phrase which it is difficult to translate, 

 but which is intended to include general agricultural 

 produce. 



The countries that adhere to the Convention pledge 

 themselves not to accept any plants unless accompanied 

 by a phytopathological certificate, declaring either that 

 the consignment has been duly examined and is free from 

 certain specified pests or that they proceed from a nursery 

 which has been so examined and reported upon. By 

 implication, therefore, they pledge themselves to accept 

 all consignments which are duly certified, though this is 

 not directly stated; and it seems that in the event of any 

 country desiring to increase the strictness of its regulations 



