21 
December. 
Parcels 
i6,439 
41 
3 
1 
35 
813 
115 
13 
17,460 
Scabby  Potatoes. — In  accordance  with  your  circular  letter  to 
potato  importers  dated  April  3,  1908,  that  the  inspector  is  to 
report  to  you  the  condition  of  potatoes  should  they  seem  un- 
toward to  him,  I beg  to  present  the  following: 
The  potatoes  imported  and  sent  here  on  consignment  are  still 
far  from  scab-free,  although  on  the  whole  they  are  infinitely  bet- 
ter than  when  the  present  campaign  was  begun.  Repeated  actual 
count  proved  that  in  the  majority  of  shipments  at  least  about  ten 
per  cent,  of  tubers  in  each  sack  is  more  or  less  infested  with  scab, 
and  that  some  of  these  tubers  are  dreadfully  scabby.  Recently 
such  a condition  was  observed  in  a lot  of  army  potatoes,  although 
I understand  army,  like  navy  department  bids  specifically  call 
for  a scab-free  article.  The  presence  of  badly  affected  tubers  in 
sacks  or  crates  of  otherwise  sound  potatoes  and  the  regularity  of 
the  proportion  involuntarily  lead  one  to  the  suspicion  that  this 
means  is  employed  to  dispose  of  an  otherwise  unmarketable  arti- 
cle. Surely  no  conscientious  effort  to  eliminate  scabby  pota- 
toes could  have  been  made  with  so  poor  a showing  of  result. 
Qur  present  potato  growing  interests  are  inconsiderable,  but 
potentially  extensive  potato  growing  here  is  not  an  impossibility 
and  under  some  circumstances  may  become  a necessity,  and  our 
inspection  law  intends  to  protect  the  future  as  well  as  the  present 
grower.  Some  of  our  potato  growing  localities  are  probably 
already  infested  with  scab,  but  it  is  neither  fair  nor  safe  to 
assume  such  to  be  the  case  with  all.  Under  the  present  labor 
domiciling  policy  of  plantations,  and  efforts  of  Territorial  and 
Federal  governments  to  encourage  vegetable  gardening  it  is  fair 
to  assume  that  any  potato  brought  in  may  be  used  for  seed  pur- 
poses, i.e.  a source  of  infection  of  soil  for  years  to  come.  In  fact, 
Disposal  with  Principal  Causes.  Lots 
Passed  as  free  from  pests 759 
Fumigated  for  large  variety  of  mealy  and  scale 
bugs,  white  fly  and  evidence  of  borer 15 
Mangroves  from  Manila  picked  over  one  by  one  for 
a variety  of  most  dangerous  pests,  then  fumi- 
gated before  releasing 1 
Bamboo  plants  from  Japan  treated  likewise 1 
Seed  potatoes  treated  with  formalin  to  kill  scab ....  1 
Potatoes  ordered  returned  on  account  of  scab  and 
soil  7 
Apples  ordered  returned  on  account  of  greedy  scale  2 
Burned  for  a variety  of  pests 7 
Total  examined  793 
PERPLEXING  SHIPMENTS. 
