FEDERAL HORTICULTURAL BOARD. 509 



191 8 and 1919 in tlie cotton inspection and control work in Texas. This 

 activity was made possible by an active interest and cooperation on 

 the part of the War Department. Competent pilots and aeroplanes 

 were loaned for this work, which was prosecuted for over a j^ear 

 with great success and was particularly valuable in the scouting 

 work necessary along the long stretches of the Eio Grande, where 

 roads and other means of transportation are poor or insufficient. 

 A preliminary use of the aeroplane had, however, been made the year 

 before, which had resulted in the discovery of some fields in the 

 wooded and sparsely settled portion of a quarantined district which 

 had been theretofore overlooked. The following officials of the 

 Aviation Service of the Signal Corps of the Army have been as- 

 signed from time to time to this work : Second Lieut. Harold Com- 

 pere and Second Lieut. William H. Tillisch. The expert inspectors 

 of the board associated with this work as observers have been H. S. 

 Hensley, Carl Heinrich, and E. L. Diven. 



This work was terminated August 7, 1919, as the result of an 

 accidental fall of the aeroplane in which both the pilot, Lieut. 

 Tillisch, and the observer, Mr. Diven, lost their lives. Although 

 these flights had been conducted over a long period without serious 

 jVccident, the danger of the service was fully recognized. Both Lieut. 

 Tillisch and Mr. Diven were men of high character and undertook 

 the work with a full realization of its dangers. Lieut. Tillisch, who 

 could have been discharged from the War Department, remained 

 in its service on account of his interest in this new use of the aero- 

 plane. The greatest honor is due these men for their courage and 

 devotion to a service which unfortunately involves the highest per- 

 sonal risk. They may be considered the pioneers in this country in 

 the use of the aeroplane in a practical way in relation to agriculture. 



A NEW TEXAS PINK BOLLWORM ACT. 



On March 10, 1919, a new pink bollworm law was enacted by the 

 State of Texas and made immediately effective. This act is a revi- 

 sion of the previous act. Its principal new feature is the provision 

 for the establishment of zones or districts in which the growing of 

 cotton may be permitted under regulation, the immediate object 

 being to permit the growth of cotton under restrictions in the old 

 quarantined areas of eastern Texas. 



This act provides for a commission of five entomologists to deter- 

 mine the necessity for the establishment of quarantine areas within 

 the State of Texas. The members of the commission as now created 

 under the terms of the act are : Ernest E. Scholl, designated by the 

 commissioner of agriculture ; W. D. Hunter, designated by the Fed- 

 eral Horticultural Board, United States Department of Agriculture ; 

 F. B. Paddock, designated by the Agricultural and Mechanical Col- 

 lege of Texas ; N. Hess, appointed by the governor of Texas, and an 

 entomologist to be appointed by the county judge in the county in 

 which the fields believed to be infested are located. 



On the recommendation of this commission the necessary quaran- 

 tine action has been taken by the governor under the new law with 

 respect to the several districts in Texas which have at any time been 

 infested by the pink bollworm and also with respect to the border 

 noncotton zones. 



