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it proved infested, as it might easily become from outside srmrces, he 

 could not possibly prove its freedom when shipped, nor how infection 

 occurred, especially if a purchaser was inclined to be dishonest and, 

 knowing- the source of infestation, destroyed it and chose to take action 

 on the guaranty. 



It has been further suggested that a certificate of freedom from cer- 

 tain pests be obtained from the station entomologist. I gave two such 

 last year; but I am very doubtful whether I care to give any more. I 

 examined many nurseries in seeking for the San Jose scale and none 

 that I pronounced clear have since proved infested. But in one case, 

 where I made what I supposed a careful examination in 1<S1)4, on a 

 place where only a little stock was raised, of certain special varieties 

 for the immediate neighborhood, and found no scales, I found, to ray 

 astonishment, in 1895, a very general infestation which I was not able 

 to trace to any recent introduction. They were i)robably present on 

 some tree that I did not previously see or from its source had no rea- 

 son to suspect. To declare a nursery containing many thousands of 

 trees to.be free from certain scales is a risky piece of business, unless 

 time be taken to carefully examine each one. Besides, nowadays, few 

 nurseries grow all their stock on their home grounds. Hundreds of 

 thousands of trees are grown for New Jersey nurserymen in New York, 

 Pennsylvania, Georgia, and other Northern, Western, and Southern 

 States, and giving a clean bill of health under such conditions is some- 

 what unsafe, to say the least, while examining all the heeled-in and 

 moss-packed trees and shrubs is simply an impossible task. Yet 

 something should be done if possible, and if some sort of inspection of 

 nurseries could be arranged for in all States the presence of such i:)ests 

 as are likely to be troublesome would be more promj^tly discovered, and 

 if remedial measures were not at once applied, a warning sent to other 

 States would serve to acquaint the workers there of a source of danger 

 to be guarded against. Perhaps our scheme of cooperation, when 

 formulated, may include a feasible method of dealing with this problem; 

 but perhaps the best thing we can do at the present time is to impress 

 upon all prospective purchasers the importance of the old legal maxim. 

 Caveat emptor — Purchaser, beware! Xo stock should be accepted 

 without rigorous inspection, and in case of any unusual, unknown, or 

 abnormal appearance samples should be sent to the experiment stations 

 for advice. Only a very short period of this kind of supervision would 

 impress iq^on nurserymen the necessity of inspection before shipping, 

 and would make them careful as to the character of the stock sent out. 



We have to contend with another factor here, however, which is dis- 

 tinctly important, i. e., the desire on the part of many ill-informed 

 agriculturists to get things cheap. To get a great lot of trees for what 

 they consider a low price they will agree to accept almost anything: 

 and I know positively that nurserymen often get rid of all their other- 

 wise unsalable material by offering it for a mere song— stock which 



