No. 4.] STATE NURSERY INSPECTOR. 237 



amination of this stock forms a large part of the work of the 

 inspectors. During the year 1913 more than 716 shipments 

 iiicliuliiig about 4,270 cases of stock, have been inspected, and 

 numerous insects and diseases not now present in the United 

 States have been discovered and destroyed. To any one who 

 stops to think that the gypsy moth, brown-tail moth, San Jose 

 scale and many of our most serious pests are not natives of 

 this country, and that there are still many other dangerous 

 insects which have not yet reached this country, the impor- 

 tance of the examination of imported nursery stock at once 

 becomes manifest. 



To a less degree, perhaps, it is important to examine nur- 

 sery stock sent to Massachusetts from other States. It is not 

 often that cases occur where new pests are found on such 

 stock, but it is certain that without such a supervision stock 

 of inferior quality and unduly infested Avould be sent in, thus 

 reducing its value to the purchaser, and in many cases, at 

 least, without his even being aware that the stock was not 

 what it should be. 



The quarantine of nearly all of Massachusetts because of 

 the presence of the gypsy and bro%vii-tail moths, by the 

 Federal Horticultural Board last year, was considered in my 

 last annual report. Since that time the quarantine has 

 caused considerable inconvenience, but has not prevented 

 doing business with other States. With the small number of 

 inspectors available on State service, the examination of each 

 shipment of stock for the gypsy and brown-tail moths, as it 

 was sent out, was manifestly impossible, and to meet the diffi- 

 culty, men trained in this kind of work were loaned by Mr. 

 D. M. Rogers, superintendent in charge of the government 

 w^ork in this line, for the purpose. These men were prac- 

 tically acting as State officials enforcing United States re- 

 quirements, and this somewhat peculiar arrangement was 

 only undertaken at the wishes of the nurser^^nen, who ex- 

 pressed the desire that all inspection should be centered under 

 one head rather than under two. The situation was far from 

 satisfactory, however, and finally, on the 1st of November, 

 1913, the State inspection service withdrew from any connec- 

 tion with the quarantine work required by the United States, 

 believing that the difficult period of transition from the old 



