BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY AND PLANT QUARANTINE 61 
More than 2,240,000 parcel-post packages were inspected during 
the year, and 2,800 were found to contain prohibited plant material. 
For various reasons it was necessary to divert 9,500 packages to other 
ports for handling, and 6,900 were released under permit after inspec- 
tion. Among the serious pests intercepted in foreign mails during the 
year was the golden nematode, found in soil attached to the roots of 
shamrocks from Ireland. In Hawaii over 365,000 parcel-post packages 
were examined prior to dispatch to the mainland, 76,000 of which were 
opened for inspection. More than 8,000 of the 105,000 parcel-post 
packages examined in Puerto Rico before movement to the continent 
were opened for inspection. The problem of safeguarding Puerto 
Rican mail was increased when the Post Office Department began 
dispatching domestic parcel post by air on September 1, 1918. 
During the year 670 lots of plants, seeds, and other propagating 
materials were imported by the Department of Agriculture for scien- 
tific and experimental purposes. These plant materials were examined 
and treated, if necessary, at the Washington, D. C, inspection house. 
When pest conditions so warranted, the plants were grown in detention 
and inspected regularly to determine whether pests that were not 
detectable at the time of original inspection had made their appear- 
ance. Final inspection prior to release was made of 3,132 lots of exotic 
plants grown by the Department under quarantine conditions. 
Plant materials being grown at the plant introduction and propa- 
gating gardens of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricul- 
tural Engineering were also inspected regularly for the presence of 
pests. Material distributed from the gardens at Coconut Grove, Fla., 
and Mandan, N. Dak., was inspected by State officials cooperating 
with this Bureau, while inspections at Chico, Calif., were made jointly 
by Bureau and State officials, and from the District of Columbia, 
Beltsville, Md., and Savannah, Ga., stations by Bureau inspectors. 
During the year 102.000 plants, 5,000 bud-sticks and cuttings, 133,000 
roots and tubers, and 400 lots of seeds were inspected prior to ship- 
ment from these gardens. 
Plants and Pests Intercepted 
The 135,300 interceptions of prohibited or restricted plants and 
plant products made in 1949 represented a decrease of about 1 percent 
from the preceding year. These materials were taken from baggage 
(89,900), from cargo (3,800), from mail (4,300). from quarters (14,- 
300), and from stores (23,000). Additional interceptions of plant 
material were made by customs officers at Mexican and Canadian 
border ports, where the traffic does not warrant the services of a plant 
quarantine inspector. 
Interceptions of insects and plant diseases during the year totaled 
22,400. They included 9,370 lots of insects and 2,240 of plant diseases 
in agricultural material imported for consumption and 5,770 lots of 
insects and 1,300 of diseases in material entered for propagation. The 
