1936] SERVICE AND REGULATORY ANNOUNCEMENTS 47 
inspection of plants and plant products from abroad 
Post Office Department, 
Second Assistant Postmaster General, 
Washington, April 9, 1936. 
Under various orders, quarantines, and regulations promulgated by the 
Secretary of Agriculture under authority of the Plant Quarantine Act of 
August 20, 1912 (37 Stat. 315), as amended, the entry into the United 
States of certain plants and plant products is prohibited or restricted. 
(See United States Official Postal Guide. July 1935, sec. 49, pp. 233 234 
and also arts. 389 and 559 to 565 inclusive of the Customs Regulations of 
1931.) As an aid in enforcing these or suhsequent orders, quarantines, and 
regulations, provisions have been made by the Bureau of Entomology and 
Plant Quarantine of the United States Department of Agriculture, con- 
currently with the Postal and Customs Services, to insure closer inspection 
of such importations. 
Inspectors of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine and customs 
officers are stationed at the following post offices: 
Atlanta, Ga. Hidalgo. Tex. Philadelphia, Pa. 
Baltimore. Md. Honolulu. Hawaii Port Arthur, Tex. 
Bellingbam. Wash. Houston, Tex. Portland. Oreg. 
Blaine. Wash. Jacksonville. Fla. Presidio, Tex. 
Boston, Mass. Key West. Fla. Rio Grande City. Tex. 
Brownsville. Tex. Laredo. Tex. Roma. Tex. 
Buffalo. N. Y. Los Angeles. Calif, (in- St. Paul, Minn. 
Calexico. Calif. eluding San Pedro). San Diego, Calif. 
Charleston, S. C. Miami, Fla. San Francisco. Calif. 
Chicago, 111. Mobile, Ala. San Juan, P. R. 
Del Rio. Tex. Naeo, Ariz. San Ysidro. Calif. 
Detroit. Mich. New Orleans. La. Savannah, Ga. 
Douglas. Ariz. New York. N. Y. Seattle, Wash. 
Eagle Pass. Tex. Nogales, Ariz. Tampa, Fla. 
El Paso Tex. Norfolk. Ya. Washington, D. C. 
Galveston, Tex. Pensacola. Fla. 
The procedure agreed to is as follows : 
All parcel post or other mail packages from foreign countries which, either 
from examination or external evidence, are found to contain plants or plant 
products shall be dispatched for submission, or actually submitted to the plant 
quarantine inspector (art. 5G4 (c), Customs Regulations of 1931) at the 
most accessible of the foregoing places, who shall pass upon the contents, 
under the plant quarantine act. and with the cooperation of the customs and 
postal officers, either (1) release the package from further plant quarantine 
and examination and endorse his decision thereon; or (2) divert it to Wash- 
ington, D. C, San Francisco, Calif., or Seattle, Wash., lor disposition. If 
so diverted, the plant quarantine inspector shall attach to the package the 
yellow-and-green special mailing tag addressed to the proper quarantine station. 
The package shall also be accompanied by customs card form 3511 and trans- 
mitted in accordance with the appropriate provisions of article 3G7 (a) 
(JR 12a) of the Customs Regulations of 1931. 
The customs officers at San Francisco, Calif., Seattle, Wash., and Wash- 
ington, D. C, shall keep a record of such packages as may be delivered to 
representatives of the Department of Agriculture, and upon the return thereof 
shall prepare mail entry to accompany the dutiable package and deliver it 
to the postmaster for delivery or onward dispatch ; or in appropriate cases 
subject the shipment to formal customs entry procedure. 
The plant quarantine inspector may require tlie entire shipment to be 
returned to the country of origin as a prohibited importation, in which 
event he shall endorse his action thereon and deliver the shipment over to 
the collector of customs, who shall in turn deliver it to the postmaster 
for dispatch to the country of origin. If the plant material, upon examina- 
tion, is deemed dangerous to plant life, the collector of customs shall permit 
the plant quarantine inspector to destroy immediately both the container and 
contents. In either case the plant quarantine inspector shall notify the ad- 
dressee of the action taken and the reason therefor. It the objectionable 
plant material forms only a portion of the contents of the mail package and 
in the judgment of the inspector the package can safely be delivered to the 
addressee, after removing and destroying the objectionable material, such 
procedure is authorized. In the latter case the inspector shall place in the 
