No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. xix 



ment and the nursery owners. The threatened quarantine 

 against our nursery stock by other States, from fear of the 

 introduction of the gypsy and brown-tail moths, has put an 

 entirely diiferent face upon the future of the work. A 

 greatly increased appropriation will be necessary if this in- 

 dustry, with an annual output of over a million dollars, is to 

 be saved to the Commonwealth. The Massachusetts' Nurs- 

 erymen's Association, composed of the owners of nurseries 

 within the Commonwealth, proposes to ask for legislation to 

 that end. Owing to their vital interest in the matter they 

 are the proper ones to make the proposition, but I would 

 recommend that you instruct your secretary and your com- 

 mittee on legislation to appear before the proper committees 

 of the Legislature and urge the necessity for this legislation. 

 Also, that 3'ou instruct your secretary to extend to Dr. L. O. 

 Howard, Chief of the Bureau of Entomology of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, an expression of our cor- 

 dial appreciation of the great assistance he rendered this in- 

 dustry and your ISTursery Inspector during the past year. 



The details of the work will be set forth in the annual re- 

 port of the State ISTursery Inspector, to be presented at this 

 meeting. It is sufficient to say that the work was well done 

 by Dr. Fernald and his assistants. The privilege of the law, 

 by which private owners can call for an inspection of adja- 

 cent property for the San Jose scale, was availed of for the 

 first time this year, several applications being received, and 

 the nuisance abated under direction of the ISTursery Inspector 

 in each case. This feature of the work seems likely to have 

 a wider application in the future. 



Dairy Bureau. 

 The work of the Dairy Bureau has been characterized by 

 thoroughness, judgment and moderation. The number of 

 cases brought in court, the percentage of convictions secured, 

 the disposition of technical violations of the law by warn- 

 ing without prosecution, and the educational work of the 

 Bureau, all reflect credit upon its management. The mem- 

 bers of the Bureau, with two others, appointed by the Gov- 

 ernor, have been engaged in an investigation of the milk sit- 



