124 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



The new nursery inspection law, prepared by a conference 

 of the nursery inspectors of New England last winter, was of- 

 fered by them to the legislatures of the six New England 

 States. Massachusetts, however, for various reasons, was the 

 only State in which it was adopted. The writer favored the 

 law mainly in the interests of uniform legislation, and was op- 

 posed to certain of its requirements, yielding on these, how- 

 ever, in the interests of harmony, and believing that as a 

 whole, the new law would be better than the old one. He is 

 still of this opinion, though feeling that some parts of the 

 law cause inconvenience and are of little value. If the other 

 New England States should adopt this law, it would seem 

 wise to leave it as it is in Massachusetts ; but if they fail to do 

 this, it may prove wise, after a few years, to repeal certain 

 portions of it. 



One section of the present law requires every nurseryman 

 residing outside of Massachusetts and desiring to do business 

 in the State to deposit a copy of his inspection certificate, and 

 purchase tags for shipping stock into the State. Each ship- 

 ment must be accompanied by a tag, whether it consists of a 

 single plant or a carload. It is impossible, therefore, to deter- 

 mine in this way how much nursery stock is sold into the 

 State; but it is at least suggestive that over 9,000 tags were 

 purchased during the fall of 1909. 



Another section of the law requires all agents for nursery 

 stock, which they do not grow, to take out licenses. This sec- 

 tion will for a time be difficult to enforce, as so few agents 

 know of it, and it is difficult to learn of them. Thus far only 

 GO licenses have been issued, while it is probable that there are 

 at least five times as many agents who sell nursery stock in the 

 State. It will presumably be several years before this section 

 becomes entirely effective. 



Those sections which permit the inspection of other places 

 than nurseries, and their condemnation as dangerous to the in- 

 terests of neighboring property holders, have been made little 

 use of. The initiative in this must come from those most 

 concerned, as to inspect everywhere would require the entire 

 time of several persons, and the appropriation available is 

 hardly sufficient for the inspection of the nurseries. 



