72 BUREAU OF PLANT QUARANTINE [July-Sept. 
Inspections 
The certification of narcissus bulbs and plants for interstate movement will 
continue, except in special cases, to be based on two inspections, one given in the 
field and the other consisting of an examination of the bulbs in the warehouse. 
The first is primarily for the purpose of detecting eelworm 3 infestation, and the 
second is for the purpose of checking on the original field findings as to eelworm, 
and to determine whether greater bulb flies are present in the plantings. In the 
absence of such inspections or when infestation is found, treatment is required. 
Detailed instructions as to methods of carrying out bulb inspection and as to 
the detection of bulb-fly and eelworm infestation are covered in a separate set of 
instructions being issued to inspectors as B. P. Q. — 338. 
Conditions of field. — Successful inspection for eelworm infestation can only be 
made in clean cultivated fields when the plants are free from raindrops or dew and 
between the time of shriveling of the flower and the beginning of the breakdown 
and discoloration of the foliage. Inspectors are instructed not to attempt to make 
an examination for eel worms in weedy fields or while the narcissus plants are wet 
or before the end or almost the end of the blosso:ning period for the variety 
concerned. 
Condition of stored bulbs. — The bulbs should be clean before inspection. If 
sorted by the grower to eliminate basal rot, lesser fly, and similar infestations, the 
culls are to be made available to the inspector for examination and their identity 
maintained as to the blocks from which they came. The discovery of greater 
bulb flies or eelworrr.s in the culls is evidence of their presence on the premises 
and constitutes a basis for requiring fumigation or other treatment, although in 
the case of eelworms the shipping or planting stock should also be inspected to 
determine the lots or varieties infested. 
Blocks or varieties may be considered separately as to eelworm infestation. — If 
eelworm infestation is found in a block or variety, the entire block or variety 
must be given the hot-water treatment as a condition of interstate movement. 
For this purpose, any single continuous planting is considered a separate block. 
If a single variety is extensively planted by the grower and infestations are found 
confined to certain blocks having a different history from others, the inspector 
may in his judgment require the hot-water treatment only of the infested blocks 
and those having the same history if he feels that this plan does not involve danger 
of the shipment of infested bulbs. In such cases the blocks should be at least 8 
feet apart. When a block is planted entirely to one variety and infestation is 
found in any part of it, all the bulbs in the block are to be treated. On the other 
hand, if two or more varieties are closely planted in a single block, a localized 
infestation found in one of them may in the judgment of the inspector involve 
danger of eelworm infestation in the others. Treatment may then be required not 
only as to the infested variety but as to such rows or sections of adjoining varieties 
as the inspector may designate. 
In the event that a grower or his employees are themselves roguing the fields 
for eelworm infestation in advance of the inspector, eelworm infestation is to be 
assumed and treatment required as a condition for the issuance of permits. If 
a grower desires to check for eelworrrs, or for varietal constancy, or for mosaic, 
in advance of the inspector, the plants found diseased or not true to type are to 
be marked with a stake and left in the field until after official inspection. In case 
official inspection is to be so delayed, however, as to involve danger of disease 
spread, inspectors are authorized to release growers from this requirement on 
condition that the "rogues" will be retained for later examination and their 
identity maintained. 
Entire premises to be considered the unit as to fly infestation. — It is not necessary 
to demonstrate the presence of narcissus fly in each separate variety on a grower's 
premises. If any greater-bulb-fly infestation whatever is found on the premises, 
all of the varieties to be covered by Federal permit must either be fumigated by an 
authorized method or given the prescribed hot-water treatment. 
In certain commercial bulb-growing sections, the greater bulb fly is so generally 
established that no special inspection is made for it. All narcissus bulbs removed 
from the ground, whether for replanting or shipment, are fumigated as a matter of 
routine. 
3 "Eelworm" as used herein refers to lylenchus dipsaci. In the case of infestations with other parasitic 
nematodes, specific instructions are to be obtained from the Bureau of Plant Quarantine, Washington, D. C. 
