*4-v • *. ' 5 ' Pollovvln e' thi s bearing, the Board in cooperation 

 with the Bureau of Plant 'industry made a thoroughgoing and 

 country-wide investigation of the subject over a period of 

 three ^months, consulting with prominent nurserymen and flor- 

 ists m Gifferent parts of the country. 



„„ .J b? Po21c ' ?:1:r5 & ttli s period of investigation, Quarantine 

 Jr, with regal allots, was provisionally drafted substantially 

 axong^the lines in which it was afterwards promulgated and was 

 sent m this form for consideration and criticism to the trade 

 journals and societies represented at the hearing of May 28, 

 1916, and to all persons in attendance and to others who had 

 manifested any interest in the subject, with a view to a later 

 conference for the purpose of discussing the quarantine and the 

 regulations thereunder. 



(7* Sucn conference, after due notice, was held October 

 18, 1918, and resulted in developing a need, in the judgment 

 of the Department, for only minor modifications of the quar- 

 antine and regulations as provisionally drafted. 



(3j After an additional month of examination and con- 

 ference, within and without the Department, the quarantine 

 was promulgated November 13, 1916, and was made effective 

 some six months later— June 1, 1919. 



Omitting the preliminary discussion over a period of years before any 

 action was taken by this Department, it appears that between the original notice 

 of hearing as a basis for the quarantine and the actual promulgation of the quar- 

 antine, there elapsed a period of nearly eight months of publicity, hearing and 

 conference, and the quarantine, as promulgated, did not become effective until 

 some six months later* 



A considerable number of conferences have been held subsequently relative 

 to this quarantine as the basis for the minor changes which have been made in 

 the requirements with respect to plant importations. 



THE EEDEKAL HORTICULTURAL BOARD— ITS FUNCTION. 



largely on account of the somewhat misleading designation "Federal Horti- 

 cultural Board" for the administrative body provided for in the Plant Quarantine 

 Act, there has been a lot of criticism because this Board was not made up of 

 horticulturists. As to this point of view it would seem proper to point out 

 that the Federal Plant Quarantine Act is for the protection of all plants and 

 plant products of the farm and forest whatsoever, and is therefore not merely, 

 or even largely, a nursery stock or ornamental plant law. The designation 

 "Horticultural Board" is, therefore, in a sense a misnomer, and a better desig- 

 nation would have been, following the title of the Act, "Plant Quarantine Board." 



