No. 4.] STATE NURSERY INSPECTOR. 175 



the impossibility of doing even a small portion of the work with 

 this sum, the Massachusetts Nurserymen's Association last 

 winter presented a bill to the Legislature, asking for $25,000 

 for the various inspection purposes. It was stated at the hear- 

 ings that some parts of the work had never been carried out for 

 lack of funds, and the amounts needed could only be guessed 

 at. The Legislature recognized this and did not pass the bill as 

 such, but incorporated its provisions in a resolve carrying 

 $10,000, to expend such a portion thereof as might be neces- 

 sary, to gi\-e definite data from which to present a bill to the 

 Legislature of 1912. With this sum, therefore, added to the 

 regular appropriation of $2,000, the work has been carried on 

 the past season. 



Inspection is sharply divided into two types of work. In 

 one, the inspectors must be thorouglily familiar vrith all the 

 dangerous insects, large and small, and with the diseases liable 

 to be present on nursery stock which, if sent out or even allowed 

 to remain in the nursery, might spread destruction tlu-ough the 

 region where they occur. Men competent to do this work 

 must have had special training in entomology and vegetable 

 pathology, and such men are in demand at salaries from $1,500 

 to $3,000 a year. It is difficult to obtain and hold such persons 

 for more than a year or two before some permanent opening 

 at a good salary draws them elsewhere; but thus far, by taking 

 men who have not entirely completed their studies in these 

 hues, they have been found. They have devoted their attention 

 mainly to the more critical examination of the stock, the in- 

 spection of places claimed to be public nuisances, and especially 

 to the examination of imports where unknown foes might be 

 present, where their special training was of great value in 

 recognizing injuries caused by pests and diseases just arriving 

 from abroad. 



The other class of inspectors consists of men who know the 

 gypsy and brown-tail moths in their different stages, but have 

 not the training necessary for the other class of work. To find 

 reliable men enough to thoroughly cover more than 1,500 acres 

 of mu'sery stock, after the leaves had fallen and before winter 

 should stop the work, was a problem which was finally solved 

 through the co-operation of Mr. D. M. Rogers of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, in charge of the gypsy moth 



