358 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



The largest amount of work, therefore, is from about the 

 middle of July to the middle of September. Work requiring 

 from four to ten men must be done from April to July and 

 from the end of September to the middle of December, and 

 during the other three months one man is usually sufficient. 



To meet these varying requirements is a difficult matter. 

 Inspection, to be worth anything, must be done by trained 

 men, famJliar with the various diseases and with insect pests 

 liable to be met. In addition, those inspectors who examine 

 imported stock should have some knowledge of the foreign 

 pests and diseases liable to be brought in on that class of 

 stock; and if they are to be also available for the blister-rust 

 inspection, they must be familiar with the symptoms of that 

 disease. 



If such men could be sure of continuous employment through- 

 out the year at a reasonable compensation, there would be 

 less difficulty in obtaining them; but where they can expect 

 work for a period of perhaps only three or four months at a 

 time, with no certainty when their services will next be needed, 

 it is evident that the inspection service can hardly expect to 

 retain them very long in competition with positions elsewhere 

 paying as well and giving continuous occupation. Then, too, 

 such men must have had special training in entomology and 

 plant pathology as a foundation for their inspection work, and 

 such men are in demand to fill permanent positions at good 

 salaries. 



The result is that we have a very limited class upon which 

 to draw for inspectors, — men who are still engaged in fitting 

 themselves to become specialists in entomology or plant pathol- 

 ogy, and who, needing some income, are willing ^-o interrupt 

 their studies for brief periods because of the money they will 

 receive for the work. The consequence of this is that when 

 a man has worked at such intervals on the inspection for a 

 year or two, and has acquired experience in this line, he gen- 

 erally completes his training, is oft'ered a permanent position 

 at a good salary somewhere, and is thus lost to the inspection; 

 and new men having training but no experience in actual in- 

 spection have to be broken in. 



