SUPPRESSION OP INSECT PESTS AND PLANT DISEASES. 13 



crops. Among the insects first introduced were the Sail Jose scale (Aspidiotus per- 

 niciosus), the cottony cushion scale (Icerya purchasi), the red scale (A. aurantii), the 

 yellow scale (A. citrinus), the oyster shell scale (Mytilaspis pomorum), the woolly 

 aphis (Schizoneura lanigera), and others. 



The need of establishing a State board of horticulture and the enactment of pro- 

 tective quarantine became apparent through the damage and annual loss sustained 

 from these pests, and in 1881 an advisory board was appointed to look after the hor- 

 ticultural interests and adopt the necessary protective measures. In 1883 the State 

 Board of Horticulture was created and quarantine laws were enacted. The present 

 status of the fruit industry in this State is largely due to the efforts of the board 

 and the !?tate appropriates $15,000 annually for the prosecution of its work. 



At the beginning the enforcement of the quarantine laws met with great oppo- 

 sition, which continued until the laws became better understood. In the first case, 

 before a justice of the peace, to enforce the disinfection of return packages, the 

 court ruled that it was "a strange law and unconstitutional." After years of hard 

 struggle with our legislatures we succeeded in having laws enacted that have stood 

 the tests of our courts, and now it would be almost impossible under our present 

 quarantine system for injurious insect pests to obtain a foothold and commit the 

 devastation that many such pests did before we had the present laws. 



In 1883 the general law creating the State Board of Horticulture provided, that 

 said board be constituted of nine commissioners, to be appointed by the governor, 

 covering as many districts, they to determine by lot the length of their terms (short 

 and long), four to serve a short term (two years), and five a long term (four years), 

 and all appointments to be thereafter made for four years. The law empowered the 

 board to appoint an inspector of fruit pests and a secretary. The board was also 

 empowered to pass quarantine regulations, under the general law, to be binding on 

 all persons. The law relative to the inspector of fruit pests was not satisfactory, as 

 he had no discretionary powers, and in 1889 it was amended so as to provide for a 

 secretary of said board, he to be ex-officio chief horticultural officer of the State 

 and to have the management and direction of affairs while the board is not in ses- 

 sion, and to him all officers must report. 



The office of quarantine officer was also created. He has charge of the enforcement 

 of the quarantine laws, and his duty is to inspect all steamers and sailing vessels 

 arriving from foreign ports. He is provided with one or more deputies when needed. 

 Special agents are employed for special work as required. 



In 1881 an act was passed by this legislature which provides that "Whenever a 

 petition is presented to the board of supervisors of any county and signed by twenty- 

 five or more persons who are residents or possessors of an orchard or both, stating 

 that certain or all orchards or nurseries or trees of any variety are infested with 

 scale insects of any kind injurious to fruit, fruit trees, and vines, or codling moth, 

 or other insects that are destructive to trees, and praying that a commission be 

 appointed by them whose duty it shall be to supervise their destruction, the board 

 of supervisors shall within twenty days thereafter select three commissioners for 

 the county, to be known as a county board of horticultural commissioners." 



The law further provides that 



"It shall be the duty of the county board of horticultural commissioners in any 

 county, whenever it shall deem it necessary, to cause an inspection to be made of 

 any orchard, or nursery, or trees, or any fruit-packing house, storeroom, salesroom, 

 or any other place in their jurisdiction, and if found* infested with scale bug, cod- 

 ling moth, or other insect pests injurious to fruit, trees, and vines, they shall notify 

 the owner or owners or person or persons in charge or possession of said trees or 

 place, as aforesaid, that the same are infested with said insects, or any of them, or 

 thfir eggs or larvae, and they shall require such person or persons to disinfect 

 or destroy the same within a certain time to be specified. If within such specified 

 time such disinfection or destruction has not been accomplished, the said person or 



