October 20, 1921 



The Florists' Review 



33 



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OPPOSE REGIONAL QUARANTINE 



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HEARING ON CORN BOBEB. 



Want Local Quarantines. 



Decided opposition was expressed to 

 the proposal to abandon the quarantine 

 of areas infested with the European 

 corn borer and wage the campaign on a 

 regional basis, at a meeting at Wash- 

 ington October 11 attended by represent- 

 atives of the agricultural departments 

 of the various states, farmers and truck 

 gardeners, with officials of the Federal 

 Horticultural Board. Florists and 

 nurserymen were not represented and 

 seedsmen only slightly. 



The board has announced a formal 

 hearing to consider furtlier steps neces- 

 sary to prevent the spread of the borer, 

 which now threatens to invade the corn 

 belt, new infestations having been dis- 

 covered in northwestern Pennsylvania 

 and in northern Ohio, with the survey 

 still incomplete. The statement that 

 alarmed the agricultural men of the 

 states wherein quarantine measures are 

 now being conducted by the Federal 

 Horticultural Board was that the insect 

 is now so widely dispersed that it is 

 necessary for the board to consider the 

 adoption of regional quarantines, or, as 

 an alternative plan, the complete aban- 

 donment of all quarantine action. ' ' It 

 is an open question whether the protec- 

 tion of noninfested areas that can be 

 secured through quarantine action from 

 now on will justify the expense of en- 

 forcement and the interference with 

 commerce," the board said. 



Speakers from Massachusetts, in par- 

 ticular, urged the board to reconsider 

 any thought of withdrawing their pres- 

 ent system with respect to the borer. It 

 is felt that making quarantine regional 

 will result in the adoption of quarantine 

 measures by the various states against 

 those now infested. 



Need More Funds. 



The trouble is a lack of available 

 funds with which the Department of 

 Agriculture can continue its fight 

 against the pest. At the conclusion of 

 the hearing, the agricultural men from 

 the states held a meeting at which it 

 was decided that a committee of five, to 

 be appointed from among the delegates 

 from the states now infested with bor- 

 ers, draw up recommendations and pre- 

 sent them to Secretary of Agriculture 

 Wallace. 



A further resolution voiced the sense 

 of the meeting that an appropriation by 

 Congress of at least $27r),()00 sliould ho 

 made to permit the department to con- 

 tinue its corn borer fight. The Federal 

 Horticultural Board indicated that it 

 was in substantial agreement on the 

 ]dan to continue the quarantine control 

 of the borer along the present lines, the 

 (juarantine to be extended to include the 

 new areas of infestation, and that it 

 would recommend such action to Secre- 

 tary Wallace, together with the recom- 

 mendation that Congress be asked for 

 funds adequate to administer such a 

 quarantine. 



W. R. Walton, of the bureau of ento- 

 mology of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, made a statement of the history 



of the pest, showing how it had spread 

 from its discovery in the summer of 

 1917 to the present time. He said the 

 spread had apparently diminished pro- 

 gressively from the beginning until the 

 present time, but that, however, this was 

 only apparent and that the original dis- 

 tribution of the pest was probably 

 much greater than at that time it was 

 thought to be. 



Age of Infestation. 



D. J. Caffrey, of the same bureau, 

 stated that the department had not yet 

 completed figures showing the injury 

 done by the pest to grain. "In discuss- 

 ing the amount of damage or injury it is 

 doubtless always necessary to discrim- 

 inate between the different areas of 

 North America known to be infested. 

 In New England we have normally two 

 full generations of the corn borer and 

 consequently there is generally much 

 more damage in New England than in 

 other areas of infestation, which we be- 

 lieve will normally have only one brood. 

 Consequently, tlie difference in amount 

 of damage done in New England area 

 and in the other areas may be partially 

 explained by the difference in the num- 

 ber of generations. Ordinarily in a sec- 

 ond generation the moths of the corn 

 borer have a tendency to deposit eggs 

 on or near ears and the young larvae 

 not only enter ears Init some of the in- 

 dividuals complete their growth feeding 

 on the corn or husk or cob of the ear." 



W. Ernest Moore, representing the 



MAYBE NOT CORN BORER. 



Ohio florists an<l nurserymen of Lake 

 county, aroused by the supposed spread- 

 ing of the European corn borer in that 

 section of tJie state, have had their fears 

 somewhat quieted by entomological ex- 

 perts at the Ohio State University. It 

 is true that a few of the borers have 

 been found in counties bordering Lake 

 Erie, but the little worm which caused 

 so much alarm among horticulturists of 

 that locality is, tliey say, none other 

 than the corn ear worm, !i far less de- 

 structive insect than the European 

 borer. Farmers found the ear worm in 

 their corn tielils and immediately mis- 

 took it for the Kuropean borer. 



' ' Tlie European corn borer to date 

 has been found only in counties border- 

 ing Lake Erie." said Prof. T. H. Parks, 

 extension entomologist at Ohio Stiite 

 University, according to the Cleveland 

 Plain Dealer. "Even there infestation 

 is so light that none excei)t trained en- 

 tomological scouts have been able to 

 locate it. 



"Corn borers work from the inside of 

 the ear outward. Farmers who find ears 

 with insects eating into the kernels at 

 the tip of the ear from without may be 

 sure it is the worm and not the borer. 

 i:ar worms are not native to Ohio and 

 ojierate only after such a mild winter as 

 the last one. It is unlikely that they 

 will do serious damage next year. The 

 corn ear worm is from one inch to one 

 and one-half inches in length and tlie 

 corn borer is only about one-half that 

 size." 



Boston Market Gardeners' Association 

 and the New England Seedsmen's Asso- 

 ciation, told of the extent of market 

 gardening in Massachusetts and the 

 effect of the removal of the present quar- 

 antine system, the state depending 

 largely upon Maine and New Hampshire 

 for the marketing of its crops. Massa- 

 chusetts has 26,052 acres of small vege- 

 tables, valued at $7,622,622, while the 

 remaining five states of New England 

 liave, combined, only 29,8.53 acres, with a 

 product valued at $4,]r)9,610 per year. 

 "If this quarantine is taken off," he 

 said, "the other states may put on a 

 quarantine against our products that we 

 would not care to have them do. No 

 federal inspector is going to be able to 

 inspect products for the Maine and New 

 Hampshire markets; it would be pretty 

 close to impossible. The states to the 

 north of us might put on a quarantine 

 against our products and that would 

 cause a great deal of loss to the farmers 

 in our vicinity, not only to those who 

 ship the products out, but others who 

 are interested in tlie vegetable markets 

 of those states. The New England 

 seedsmen are taking the same general 

 attitude that the gardeners have re- 

 garding this matter. ' ' 



Seedsmen Oppose Quarantine Extension. 



W. E. Britten, state entomologist of 

 Connecticut, voiced the oj>position of 

 his state to the suggestion of placing 

 the quarantine as far west as the Con- 

 necticut river. He stated he does not 

 see any reason for having the quarantine 

 hit Connecticut at all until the pest has 

 been found within the state. "So far 

 as I know," he said, "there is not much 

 of a seed-growing industry east of the 

 Connecticut river. The chief seed-grow- 

 ing industry in Connecticut is located 

 at Wethersfield and Milford, both being 

 west of the river. Our seed growers, 

 shipping their seeds to other states, feel 

 their business will be seriously endan- 

 gered." 



Dr. E. D. Ball, of the Department of 

 Agriculture, pointed out that it was 

 necessary for the dejtartment to cut 

 down its expenditures. He estimated 

 that between .$220,000 and $2.50,011(1 

 would be recpiired for another year to 

 care jiroperly for the situation." How- 

 ever, he explained tliat the new budget 

 system seeks to cut Department of Agri- 

 culture ajijiropriations by one-half mil- 

 lion dollars. He added that only $12.5.- 

 000 is carried in the budget for the corn 

 borer. Hearings before the Congres 

 sional committee will probably not take 

 l>lace until the second week in January. 

 This gives time for the persons inter- 

 ested in the matter to get busy in an 

 effort to have Congress make appropri- 

 ate contri])utions to the fight against 

 this pest. 



E. C. Cotton, of the Ohio department 

 of agriculture, expressed the belief that 

 the proper thing to do would be to estab- 

 lish a quarantine along the south line 

 of the counties bordering on the lake 

 and in addition to that undertake a cam- 

 paign of control. H. A. Gossard, state 

 entomologist, agreed with Mr. Cotton. 



L. R. Taft, inspector of nurseries and 

 orchards of Michigan, spoke of about a 



