252 
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 16 
A sketch of similar legislation in the United States was given, be¬ 
ginning with an account of the grasshopper laws of the late 70’s, en¬ 
acted by the States of Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota and Nebraska. 
It was pointed out that California was probably the first State to under¬ 
take comprehensive legislation, in its law of 1881. A review was given 
of subsequent State legislation which involved up to 1895 only four 
States, in addition to those previously listed, namely, legislation by 
Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Colorado, as indicated in a compila¬ 
tion in Bulletin No. 33 of the Bureau of Entomology. The compilation 
of State laws up to 1898 (Bulletin No. 13, new series, Bureau of Ento¬ 
mology), indicated that 15 States had at that time general legislation 
against insect pests, and that 8 States had foul brood legislation. The 
next edition of State laws (Bulletin No. 61, 1906) recorded legislation 
by practically all of the States of the Union. This tremendous in¬ 
crease of legislative activity resulted from the spread of the San Jose 
scale in the eastern States, and is the origin of most of the existing State 
laws and regulations governing movement of nursery stock, etc. Various 
European plant embargoes and other legislation on account of the San 
Jose Scale of the same period were described. Reference was also 
made to the considerable legislation which has resulted in the South on 
account of the boll weevil and more lately on account of the pink 
bollworm. 
A brief history was given of the effort in 1897, on account of the San 
Jose scale, to secure national legislation, the main object being to safe¬ 
guard the interstate movement of nursery stock, but making minor 
provision for inspection of imported stock at designated points of entry, 
or in lieu thereof for the acceptance of foreign certification. The reasons 
for the failure of this effort were pointed out and a brief discussion was 
given of the inception in January, 1909, and the final enactment August- 
20, 1912, of the present Federal Plant Quarantine Act. 
Reference was made to the plant pest legislation participated in by 
many foreign countries, and particularly by the English and French 
Colonies, where the necessity existed, similar to that in the United 
States, for protection from the older centers of civilization. It was 
pointed out also that our own Plant Quarantine Act had resulted in 
complementary legislation providing for inspection and certification of 
exports by some 32 foreign countries. 
President E. C. Stackman: The next paper is by Mr. W. A. Orton. 
