April, '15] 



HEADLEE: ESSENTIALS OF INSECT CONTROL 



273 



troubles it may be free from. The certificate means to the consignee 

 a clean bill of health, and the moral responsibility of the control official 

 is not effectuall}^ minimized by specifying the particular pests from 

 which the stock is free. 



That it is desirable for the control official to know just what the 

 certificate means should be granted without argument; but may this 

 not be obtained without either lengthening the present certificate or 

 multiphdng the type? At each of the last three meetings of this 

 association, it has been suggested in a more or less official way that 

 information relative to the species of insects which are held by him 

 to be seriously injurious should be collected from every control official, 

 and that this information should be printed and distributed among the 

 control officials of the United States. It is the writer's remembrance 

 that a committee was appointed to confer wdth the Federal Horticult- 

 ural Board relative to the matter and to induce the board to prepare 

 such a publication. It seems sufficient to say that, regardless of the 

 action taken, no such publication has ever been distributed. 



The attempt to bring about the more complete closing of the channels 

 through which pests penetrate the protected territory, by investigating 

 the responsibility of the consignor in addition to requiring the regular 

 certificate is full of difficulties and would seem to offer little protection. 

 Its influence is almost entirely moral and, if unaccompanied by exam- 

 ination of a part) at least, of the incoming stock, can be expected to 

 affect only the weak and the strictly honest. As the members of this 

 association are perfectly aware, there is a common distinction between 

 personal and business honesty. In using the term "strictly honest" 

 the writer refers to the business conducted from the standpoint of 

 personal honesty. In so far as this investigation of the consignor re- 

 sults in keeping close track of the incoming shipments the results are 

 bound to be good. 



The attempt to prevent the introduction of undesirable insects, by 

 requiring the consignor to furnish prompt information of each shipment 

 in addition to covering each by a regular certificate accompanied by 

 inspection of a considerable percentage of the stock received, is the 

 best method thus far developed w^hen the funds have been limited. By 

 such an arrangement the consignor knows that any one of his ship- 

 ments may be examined and that should any be found infested he will 

 be subjected to the closest possible scrutiny and the purchase of his 

 stock, perhaps, advised against. He is thereby almost if not quite as 

 effectually deterred from knowingly shipping infested stock as he 

 would be by universal inspection. The attempt to keep track of 

 incoming stock by requiring the common carrier to notify the control 

 official is an unsatisfactory method from the standpoint of practical 



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