April, ’23] 
haseman: inspection at digging time 
141 
Chairman E. N. Cory: We will now listen to a paper by Mr. 
Leonard Haseman. 
INSPECTING NURSERY STOCK AT DIGGING TIME 
By Leonard Haseman, Columbia , Mo. 
Astract 
Great opportunities are offered in inspection work. Summer inspections are in¬ 
adequate and inspections at digging time with a uniform system of certification, 
probably regional, is suggested. 
The writer’s fifteen years experience with Plant Inspection work 
in Missouri has convinced him that no other line of work offers 
greater opportunities for real service to Agriculture and Horticulture. 
Yet many states have been slow to recognize the importance of the 
work and to adequately provide for its proper enforcement. Even 
the United States Department of Agriculture did not get effective 
legislation passed until long after a number of serious foreign plant 
diseases and insect enemies of agriculture had been introduced. With 
the arrival of the San Jose Scale in the United States many of the 
states became active in passing hurried legislation which in most 
• 
cases was later replaced with broader and more carefully drawn 
legislation. Missouri comes in this group. 
The present Plant Inspection Service was created by the Legis¬ 
lature in 1913. It was 1919, however, before any funds were appro¬ 
priated for carrying out the work. Previous to that the Agricultural 
Experiment Station furnished the inspectors and the field expenses 
were paid by the growers receiving inspection. In 1921 the biennal 
appropriation was increased to $10,000 and the next one will undoubt¬ 
edly be further increased. Still the funds are far inadequate to make 
it possible to organize the work on a basis to properly meet the needs 
of the state. 
Inspection Work 
Under our present organization the annual inspection of nurseries, 
floral establishments, berry fields and sweet potato slip beds has 
always been carefully done. However, in the past few years we 
have had definite proof of the fact that summer inspection is not 
sufficient. It is all right so far as it goes but where scale, crown gall 
and the like appear, the nurseryman needs further help later and the 
inspection service is under obligation to give it. The culling out of 
infested or diseased trees or plants is the duty of the inspectors and 
should not be placed as an obligation on the nurseryman. In the 
