6 BULLETIN 161, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



plishecl little in controlling the fruit fly, as evidenced by the general 

 infestation noted by the writer in ripe loquats and Thevetia in Decem- 

 ber of that year. 



In other words, the money appropriated in Bermuda for inspection 

 work against the fruit fly has not yielded practical results. The 

 small amount of fruit grown in the islands does not warrant the 

 expenditure of money except with the object of extermination in 

 view. It is only by extermination that fruit growers in Bermuda 

 can hope to produce those fruits which her climate makes possible 

 without mamtaining a system of inspection that at best will yield but 

 temporary results and at the same time be a source of perpetual 

 expense amounting to more than the fruits now grown are worth. 

 The work carried on by the Federal Government in Hawaii has 

 clearly demonstrated the fact that no clean cultural method will lead 

 to any lasting beneficial result unless the person in charge of such 

 work be given the power, either personally or through able inspectors, 

 to plan the destruction of all fruit before it begins to ripen, either by 

 the destruction or severe pruning of host trees or the gathering of 

 fruit before it is sufficiently developed to become infested. Just so 

 long as notices are served on residents demanding them to destroy 

 fruits on their properties already known to the inspector to be infested 

 with the fruit fly, just so long will failure attend clean-culture work. 

 The director of a clean-culture campaign must have full power to 

 destroy fruit whenever he knows that the facts demand it. Human 

 nature is the same the world over. Lack of interest on the part of a 

 few citizens when the destruction of fruit is left in their hands can 

 defeat and has defeated the plans of the most able directors. These 

 statements regarding clean-culture work are based upon the results 

 following the expenditure of many thousand dollars in similar work 

 in the Hawaiian Islands and elsewhere. 



BERMUDA AS A SOURCE OF DANGER TO THE UNITED STATES. 



If Bermuda were in direct communication with the southern 

 Atlantic ports of the United States, to which she is so closely situ- 

 ated, she would be a source of great danger to the fruit interests of 

 the Southern States. However, her only regular and direct commu- 

 nication is by means of vessels plying between Hamilton and New 

 York, a distance of about 701 miles, for the passage of which about 

 two days is required. Another line, of steamers, equipped with 

 limited passenger accommodations and running about every four 

 weeks, connects London and Hamilton. The vessels of this last 

 company usually continue on to Cuban ports, and thence to a south- 

 ern port of the United States for freight before returning to England. 

 Such small quantities of fruit are brought to maturity in an edible 

 condition in Bermuda that there is very slight probability of any 



