Part I.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. 37 



Nursery Inspection. 



The work of the nursery inspection service this year has been, 

 as in 1916, in two parts, — nursery inspection proper, and work 

 on the white pine blister rust. In the nursery inspection the 

 usual examinations of nurseries for pests and diseases have been 

 carried on, imported nursery stock and fruit have been exam- 

 ined, and the usual duties of the office have been continued. 

 Two or three cases of pests and diseases, liable to be serious in 

 Massachusetts, have been found on stock coming into the 

 State, and in all these cases the plants having these troubles 

 have been destroyed. The nurseries themselves have been found 

 fully up to the standards of previous years, and the work, which 

 is protective in its nature, has been fully as effective as hitherto. 



The work on the blister rust is still in progress, and no com- 

 plete statements, therefore, can be made. Inspection for this 

 disease has been made in every city and town in the State, and, 

 in areas where greatest danger of the disease existed, special 

 attention has been given to bringing it, as far as possible, under 

 control. The labor situation, enlistments and the draft, to- 

 gether with an unfortunate but necessary change of policy for 

 the work during the summer, have had an injurious effect upon 

 the results; but many thousands of diseased pines, currants 

 and gooseberries have been found and destroyed, thus checking 

 a farther spread of the disease from those plants, and in several 

 areas, where the pine is particularly valuable and should be 

 preserved at any cost, eradication of all currants and goose- 

 berries has been undertaken, these being a distinct menace to 

 the pines so long as they existed. In the last Legislature a bill 

 providing compensation for owners of undiseased plants re- 

 moved because they were a menace was rejected. This is much 

 to be regretted, for while no one should claim compensation for 

 diseased plants destroyed, those yet undiseased, but necessarily 

 removed because of their liability to disease and their power to 

 convey it to pines, stand on a different basis, and it would seem 

 that the owner of such plants should receive at least partial 

 compensation for his loss. 



Owing to the resignation of Dr. H. T. Fernald and the in- 

 creasing work of the nursery inspection service, it is essential 



