10 SUPPRESSION OF INSECT PESTS AND PLANT DISEASES. 



Ten thousand peach trees may be shipped into a State, and so far as any one can 

 determine they may be perfectly healthy. Notwithstanding this, 50 per cent or more 

 of the trees may be infected with yellows, and what is more, the malady may not 

 develop for a year after the trees have been planted. What is true of peach yellows 

 is true of many other diseases, particularly those where the leaves alone are the parts 

 attacked. 



Without further argument, therefore, it may be said that any general laws looking 

 toward the control of nursery stock are likely to prove impracticable, first, because 

 the nature of the diseases is such as to render proper inspection exceedingly difficult', 

 if not impossible, and second, no one with any regard for scientific truth or accu- 

 racy would care to risk his reputation in giving an opinion where so many compli- 

 cations are involved. 



Of course there may be special cases where laws Avould be an advantage. Take, for 

 example, pear blight in the nursery. Young trees may become infected and the 

 disease remain dormant in them until they are set in the orchard. Inspection here 

 might be of benefit, but it is questionable whether legislation would facilitate 

 matters in the least. Probably not one nurseryman in a thousand would refuse to 

 take the proper precautions for eradicating blight if the way were pointed out 

 to him. It would be a matter of business for him to dp so ; and this introduces the 

 question as to how far many of the problems involved in the matter under discussion 

 could be controlled by proper organization among the experiment station workers 

 and others who might be easily induced to cooperate with them. I can see no reason 

 why a properly organized force of this kind, acting throughout in a uniform manner, ' 

 would not accomplish much good, not only in educating nurserymen and others 

 in the lines of work that should be followed where emergencies may arise, but also 

 by taking such legitimate and proper action, where the exigencies demand, as to 

 make it to the interest of all owners of nursery stock to be able to truthfully say 

 that they have put forth every effort to have every tree sent out absolutely free 

 from dangerous insect, fungous, or other pests. 



So far our discussion has dealt mainly with the nurseryman. It must be remem- 

 bered, however, that there are other phases of the problem. The fruit grower himself 

 is to be considered and may often prove an important factor to deal with. The 

 energetic, successful man, who puts forth every effort to keep his trees free from the 

 various foes which beset them, may often have his best efforts rendered more or Jess 

 futile by the fact that his neighbor's trees harbor all sorts of insects and fungi. It 

 is a delicate matter to say what shall be done in such a case. The man whose trees 

 are infested may not be shiftless. He may be the victim of natural laws, for which 

 he is in no way responsible, or he may, for personal or other reasons, not be able to 

 care for his trees as should be done. To hold the law over this man and say that he 

 should spray his trees or destroy them, or else pay a fine or go to jail, would be mani- 

 festly unjust. Public sentiment would support him, and therefore the law, should 

 it exist, could not be enforced. 



Finally, there is a question of imported pests to consider. What has been said of 

 the impracticability of inspection laws will also apply here. It may sometimes 

 happen, however, that a dangerous pest is imported, and although established in 

 one or more places, might be quickly and easily eradicated by prompt and intelli- 

 gent action supported by proper legislation. Even here, however, the futility of 

 State laws can be seen, for the pest may be established at isolated spots in three or 

 more States, and while the laws of one State may make it impossible to exterminate 

 the enemy, those of the next may be wholly powerless to cope with it. In such 

 cases, and also where any pest Hitherto confined to comparatively limited areas 

 shows an alarming tendency to spread, proper Federal legislation might serve a 

 useful purpose. W T hat would constitute proper Federal legislation is not within our 

 province to say, as the complications involved are far too numerous to be considered 

 here. Suffice it to say, however, that the precedent for such legislation seems to 

 have been established in creating the Bureau of Animal Industry of the United 



