ing the knowledge of plants in all parts of the United States and in all 
foreign countries. Much of its work of exploration has been under- 
taken for the purpose of bringing into this country and into Europe 
trees which can succeed only in the Pacific states, Louisiana, Florida, 
or the milder parts of Europe. For the Arboretum there is no foreign 
country. 
The Arboretum is not charged with having introduced into this 
country any serious plant disease or dangerous insect on the many 
thousand plants which have been imported, often with soil at their 
roots, from every country of the northern hemisphere, or on any of the 
millions of seedings which it has raised and distributed. During its 
entire existence plants have come to the Arboretum from foreign 
countries, except during the autumn and winter of 1919-20. The 
Arboretum desired to import from Europe a few plants in the autumn 
of 1919 and received permission from the Federal Horticultural Board 
to do so on condition that they were sent first to Washington for 
inspection and disinfection. It was impossible to arrange for the in- 
spection of these plants at Boston; and the Arboretum, having had 
unfortunate experiences with early importations which had been 
sent to Washington for inspection by agents of the Federal Horticult- 
ural Board, has decided to give up entirely importing plants and 
seeds until some modifications is made in the methods of the Horti- 
cultural Board. As the Arboretum has been active and successful, 
especially in the last twenty years, in the introduction of new plants 
into the United States, it is believed that its inability to continue this 
work will be a serious blow to horticultural progress in the United 
States. 
The managers of the Arboretum, in common with every intel- 
ligent and public-spirited citizen of the United States, believe in the 
exclusion of plant diseases and insects destructive to plants; they 
believe that the methods and rulings of the Horticultural Board can 
be modified and improved so that the desired results can be obtained 
without subjecting imported plants to the dangers and delays which 
it is impossible for them to escape under the existing regulations and 
methods of the Federal Horticultural Board. Ofl&cers of the Govern- 
ment realize that these methods and regulations cause serious delays 
and the unnecessary destruction of plants, and agree with many im- 
porters that these delays and dangers can be reduced by the establish- 
ment of inspection stations at ports of entry and by changes in the list 
of excluded plants. If such inspection stations could be estabHshed, 
more prompt and better service would certainly be obtained. Such 
changes can only be obtained by the active co-operation of every 
organization and of every individual in the United States interested 
in the cultivation of plants; and it should, I believe, be the duty of 
26 
