Show ua WATCH FOR IMPORTED PESTS little excuse for passing stock infested with ega masses of gipsy or brown tail moth by tile united states depolt ment 0 of f agriculture the alio main arguments of objectors to plant it quarantine no 37 which will greatly restrict the entry of ursery nursery n stock and other plants and seeds heeds beginning june 1 1919 are that either cither no pests tire lire brought in on such imported stock or that thorough inspection abroad would eliminate any undesirable insects insect there Is no question but that the chief exporting foreign g governments have given to their nursery stock the best inspection which human skill and science can afford Fal failures lures are due to the human equation and to conditions not subject to change which make inspection and certification insufficient safeguards the inadequacy of such since 1918 when li it became opera operative five Is shown by the findings resulting from of imported material at destination in this country data gathered by the united eted states department of agriculture show that there have been received from holland holand 1051 infested shipments involve jig kinds kind of insect pests from Belg belgium luni 1300 infested shipments involving 64 kinds of insects from france infested shipments involving 89 80 kinds of insects from england infested shipments shipment involving 62 kinds binds of insects from japan infested shipments involving kinds of insects from germany 12 infested involving 15 kinds of insect pests many of these intercepted insects are not known to be established anywhere in tills this country and numbers of them it if established would undoubtedly undoubted v become important pests typical of the insects thus thin imported some of which have leave come in ili on more than 1000 shipment are the records in relation to gipsy and brown tail moths under the system of inspection which lias has been established in tile the principal exporting countries there Is little excuse tor for the passing and cl certification r of stock infested with the egg Il masses lases of the gipsy moth or with the large und and rather conspicuous leafy winter nests of the larvae of the brown tail tall moth in point of fact however during the period in which the highest possible lle grade of inspection lias has been enforced no less than 52 different shipments of plants from foreign countries have been found to lio be infested with egg mosses masses of the gipsy moth oth or larval neals of the brown bronn tall moth three of these were from japan and tile others were from france 11 holland olland or belgium unfortunately these records do not necessarily comprise the total entry of these two pests they represent merely the hie instances of infestation discovered disco discoN erod ered by on tills this side under the law the inspection of imported nursery stock lu in this imported stock ready for planting antins Pl country Is left to the inspectors of tile he state stales and the finding of infestation Is there entirely dependent on tile the efficiency fici ency of state slate inspection in many states slates this inspection is of a high order and probably ably most if not till all instances of infestation are found in other states the inspection service Is inadequately provided for and insufficient and in a few states the service has little support and little if any efficiency chency there Is therefore the pos possibility 1 I that one or both of these there pests have already gained foothold at one point or another in the united states and have not set been discoN discovered ered and reported in this connection it should be remembered that the gipsy moth was 20 years in massachusetts before it was known the establishment of those these two in sects in different parts of the united slates would soon lead to their general genera eral spread throughout the country what tills this dould mean in III e ost cost find and damage and also in human suffering can hardly bo be estimated only a portion of the new england states Is now invaded by those these insects and yet the expenditure in cleanup clean up and control work alone amounts to more than it a million dollars a year by the states concerned in addition to an aiding federal appropriation of upwards of annually |