to be unwieldy and undesirable . Unless some other and better plan, therefore, is 

 suggested, it seems necessary to proceed with a selective quarantine, along the 

 lines of Quarantine 37. 



SEASONS FOR RESTRICTIONS OH ISSUANCE OF SPECIAL PERMI1S TO AMATEURS. 



The policy of the Board and Department relative to issuance to amateurs of 

 special permits under Regulation 14 for the importation of restricted plants is 

 given in Board Circular letters 105 and 145, which have been fairly widely dis- 

 tributed and published either in whole or in part in various horticultural and 

 trade journals. 



The principal objections of the amateur plant grower to Quarantine 37 

 come from the selective feature already discussed involved in th© policy of the 

 issuance of special permits for the importation of the restricted plants on the 

 basis of the tub lie service rendered. The amateur plant grower, more than any 

 other group, is affected by this policy and, unfortunately, as elsewhere indicated, 

 it furnishes a subject for complaint which seems to be unavoidable. 



The Department thoroughly appreciates and sympathizes with the perfectly 

 natural desire of plant lovers and enthusiasts to import for their personal use 

 and the adornment of their estates or gardens any new or old variety which they 

 may wish to secure. The reasons for the restrictions on the issuance of special 

 peimits to such persons is discussed in Circular Letter 145, as follows: 



The Federal Horticultural Board and the Department of 

 Agriculture would be only too glad to meet the wishes of such 

 persons, and their name is legion, if it were not realized that 

 this action would practically nullify the quarantine. Persons 

 of this general type interested in plants are found in numbers 

 in every town and hamlet in the United States, and to peimit any 

 or all of them to import plants for personal use in such con- 

 dition that they could grow them, would mean not only that the 

 plants would have to come, in many cases, in earth ready for 

 immediate planting— involving dangers of plant pest introductions 

 which can not be safeguarded by inspection or treatment—but 

 that it would be absolutely impossible for this Department to 

 handle the tens of thousands of small importations which would 

 result, or to follow them up to destinations throughout the 

 country with any subsequent safeguards. There would rarely be 

 any public sex-vice of real value in connection with such im- 

 portations, such as malting the new plants generally available 

 or utilizi ng them for breeding or other work. Some essential 

 service of this sort should be the basis for the entry of the 

 various classes of plants which are not open to unlimited im- 

 portation. The mere personal gratification of hundreds or 



