Part L] STATE NURSERY INSPECTOR. 63 



makes it possible to continue the work during the coming j-ear 

 under a clause of the State act permitting any unexpended bal- 

 ance to be spent in 1918. 



Plan of Work. 



Work on the rust in the other States and Canada has hitherto 

 mainly consisted of scouting with trained crews to ascertain the 

 distribution of the disease and to eradicate what was found. 

 Last spring in this State work of this kind was unnecessary, as 

 the scouting of the previous year had covered the State, and the 

 approximate conditions at least were known for every town. A 

 new plan of operation was therefore necessary, and with no 

 example elsewhere to follow. 



It seemed desirable to form plans for work, therefore, on 

 some new basis, and as a first step a managing committee, in- 

 formal in its organization, was selected which should consider 

 all general plans for State work, advise on any general matters 

 which might arise and assist in general. This committee was 

 composed of the secretary of the Board of Agriculture, the 

 State Forester and the State Nursery Inspector. The plan 

 finally adopted was to divide the State into districts, each of 

 which was to be in charge of a superintendent who should select 

 a man in each town as a local blister rust worker, to devote as 

 much of his time as necessary to work in the town, examining 

 pines for the disease as late in the spring as this was possible, 

 then working on Ribes the remainder of the season. 



It was estimated that each local man should be able to ex- 

 amine all the cultivated Ribes in his town at least as often as 

 once a month, but if the number of Ribes was too great to ac- 

 complish this, an assistant might be employed. The superin- 

 tendent was to visit each of the towns in his district as often as 

 possible, checking up the work, aiding the local man whenever 

 his advice was needed, receiving all local reports and bills, and 

 in general making sure that the work was being well and prop- 

 erly done. Eighteen districts were accordingly established for 

 the State, care being taken to keep them of such size that they 

 could be properly covered by the superintendent without too 

 long a period between visits to each of the towns. 



As the superintendents should be men who had been trained 



