SUPPRESSION OF INSECT PESTS AND PLANT DISEASES. 17 



Plants (loose) inspected and passed 1,345 



Plants (loose) inspected and destroyed 45 



Total 1, 390 



Boxes of fruit inspected and passed 1, 739 



Boxes of fruit inspected and destroyed 3 



Boxes of fruit inspected and disinfected 837 



Boxes of fruit inspected and returned 100 



Total boxes 2, 679 



Among the insect pests not yet known in the State are plum curculio (Conotrache- 

 lus nenuphar}, which would mean the end of our prune industry if introduced; the 

 pear Psylla (Psyllapyricola), which has been so destructive to the pear crops of New 

 York; the bud moth (Tmetocei'a ocellana}, which has also played great havoc in the 

 apple orchards in western New York; the gypsy moth (Ocneria dispar}, which has 

 cost Massachusetts nearly half a million dollars to combat; the cigar-case bearer 

 (Coleopliora fletcherella), which did such great damage in 1894 to the orchards of 

 western New York; the apple maggot and apple midge; and the peach yellows 

 and peach rosette, which, if introduced, would mean the end of successful peach 

 culture in the State. 



The flying fox (Pteropus rubricollis], a great pest in Australia, was also found on 

 board of steamers. These alight in orchards in the night in great numbers. 

 Upward of one hundred thousand in a flock have often been observed enough to 

 damage an entire crop in a single night. The mongoose (Herpestes griseus), which is 

 so destructive to poultry, especially in the Sandwich Islands and Jamaica, imported 

 there from India in the hope of destroying rodent pests, was also intercepted. We 

 are especially guarding against the introduction of the English or Australian rabbit, 

 which would cause great damage if brought to our shores. 



Every State should have protective measures of its own. The State Board of 

 Horticulture of this State was the first to be created in the country. Other Pacific 

 States have followed the example, but the boards are not supported by their legis- 

 latures as they should be. The creation of any such board without moral support 

 and financial aid is of no value, and can accomplish no good to the State. Unless 

 amply provided with means and stringent laws, the undertaking of establishing such 

 a board should not be attempted. 



Much has been said and written of late in regard to the San Jose scale, which has 

 been introduced into the East and some of the Southern States on infected fruit from 

 California. The fault, if any there be, lies with the people of those States, because 

 they had no State legislation or protective measures to prevent the introduction of 

 such pests. 



Prior to 1880 California occupied the same position. We had no State legislation 

 for the protection of the horticultural interests, and the Eastern and Southern nurs- 

 erymen found our State a convenient dumping ground for all their pest-ridden trees, 

 until we became alive to the dangers before us through yearly loss, and secured the 

 creation of the State Board of Horticulture and the enactment of protective horti- 

 cultural legislation. When we established a quarantine against Eastern trees, 

 especially from districts where the peach yellows and peach rosette exist, the nurs- 

 erymen of the East in convention declared that we had done so in the interest of 

 home-grown stock, and that it was a boycott against the Eastern dealer. When we 

 established the same quarantine against the introduction of nursery stock from one 

 county into another the nurserymen here then declared it was a boycott in favor of 

 nurserymen of each county. But what was the result f Each nurseryman pays strict 

 attention and sees that his stock is clean before shipment, else it will be quarantined 

 at destination and a certificate of inspection before shipment must accompany each 

 shipment. The railroad company will pot deliver the trees until passed upon by the 

 2496 2 



