84 



It is very well to say that the people must be educated, but it is 

 another matter to accomplish this fact, and in the meantime we are in 

 the presence of a real and serious danger. 



Every person to whom I have written on this subject, except one, 

 believes in cooperation among the several States, but few indeed are 

 clear as to what lines or under what geueral plan we could undertake 

 cooperation. 



For my part, I am of the opinion that any cooperation that may be 

 undertaken should deal solely with the nursery question, as the ques- 

 tion of local infection is a matter for the individual States to deal 

 with. 



Whether we could secure the enactment of a general law in all the 

 infested States is to me a question of very grave doubt; in fact, I feel 

 almost certain that it would be impossible to secure a law under which 

 the several entomologists could act in unison. Consequently I am led 

 to suggest that if there can be some scheme devised by which we can 

 secure thorough and critical inspection of all nurseries and full publi- 

 cation of the facts we may be able to accomplish the desired result 

 much more speedily and with vastly less cost than to wait for special 

 legal enactments by the several States. But this step if undertaken 

 would need to be surrounded with proper safeguards. This inspection 

 would become a matter of such critical importance that every possible 

 care would need to be observed to make it absolutely fair and impar- 

 tial. And then the publication of such data could not, in justice to the 

 commercial interests of the several States, be left to the individual 

 stations, colleges, or boards of agriculture, but should be made a con- 

 joint affair and only issued after the most painstaking efforts to verify 

 every observation reported. In fact, it seems to me that here is an 

 instance in which the Department of Agriculture at Washington, act- 

 ing as a central authority, should take up the work and publish such 

 a report as I have indicated above. If a thorough inspection could 

 once be completed it would thereafter be quite a simple matter to keep 

 tab on the nurserymen and publish from time to time a blacklist of 

 such as refuse to follow out proper regulations to insure the character 

 of the stock disseminated by them. 



The foregoing thoughts cover in a general manner the problem as it 

 presents itself from my brief experience in Virginia. I hope the asso- 

 ciation will give me the benefit of their best suggestions, and if any 

 worker has really faced this matter and found out how we are to sup- 

 press this dangerous pest without cooperation, so far as relates to its 

 dissemination on nursery stock, I will be delighted to learn the facts. 



At the meeting of the American Association of Agricultural Col- 

 leges and Experiment Stations next November in Washington, I hope 

 to be present and read a paper on my experience in attempting to sup. 

 press this insect in Virginia. I wish this association here present 

 might take some action looking toward carrying this question of coop- 

 eration before that meeting by report of a committee or otherwise, as 

 may be deemed best. 



