22 



for example, by tlie Island of Cyprus* against all vines or le^'uminons 

 plants, owing to whicii the phylloxera has not yet made its appearance 

 on the island; or sucli as is suggested by Mr. Swingle! to protect the 

 Hawaiian coffee planter from the Central American colfee disease 

 called la mancJia, prohibiting absolutely the direct introduction of seeds 

 or i)lants from the infested region. 



In addition to these precautions, the careful examination and disin- 

 fection of all plants upon arrival from foreign countries and a carefully 

 instituted watch over them for several years after their introduction, 

 which would result in the early detection and stamping out of any dis- 

 ease, noxious insect, or weed, will remove all avoidable danger and place 

 the work of introduction on a rational basis. Such proper examination 

 upon arrival can be carried out by Department experts and weed seed 

 and all apparent diseases eliminated. By means of cooperation with, 

 the experiment stations in the various States such plants as show 

 objectionable tendencies or develop new diseases can be destroyed. 



The progress that has been made recently in the methods of disinfec- 

 tion renders it i^ossibie to free imported plants and seeds from most if 

 not all of the dangerous parasites which may be present among them. 



DISTRIBUTION AND ESTABLISH3IENT OF I3IP0HTED PLANTS. 



While the discovery and procuring of new plants will perhaps always 

 appear as the most difficult task connected with plant introduction, the 

 work of properly distributing them entails in reality fully as much 

 supervision. The fact that a plant has been introduced into the United 

 States and failed means in itself nothing, unless the information as to 

 the conditions of soil and climate under which it was tested are known 

 and it appears that the varieties of soil and climate prevailing in this 

 country have been exhausted. 



Kothing better illustrates the great variety of these conditions in 

 America than the constant discoveries that are being made of restricted 

 localities like the thermal belt of IsTorth Carolina or the Eockj^ Ford 

 region of Colorado, which are peculiarly suited to the cultivation of 

 special crops. Europe, little larger than the United States,! with a 

 climate tempered by the Gulf Stream and an unusual extent of coast 

 line, possesses an agriculture the extremely varied nature of which can 

 only be appreciated after special and i)rolonged stud3^ The local 

 nature of its plant industries is often a matter of surprise and is due in 

 large part to the discovery of certain peculiarities of soil, or climate, 

 or the origination of some variety especially adapted to local condi- 

 tions. Xot more than 12,000 acres in southern Spain have been found 



* Deschampes, Emilio L, Isola di Cipro. In tlie Cosmos par Guido Cora, Konia, 

 Ser. 11, Vol. XII, 1894-96, I-YII. 



t Swingle, W. T. Danger of Introducing a Central American Coffee Disease into 

 Hawaii. Circular No. 16, Division of Vegetable Pliysiology and Pathology, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, 1898. 



19,937,287 sniare kilometers, as compared with 9,212,270 square kilometers, Alaska 

 included. Mayers' Konvcrsatiuns Lexicon. 



