The leader-enterprise. [volume] (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1912-1915, 1913-12-03
PLANT QUARANTINE
SAVES MILLIONS
How chronological Department Keeps
Infested Plants and Trees Out
of Georgia.

Atlanta, Gait is impossible to es-
innate in dollars and cents, says the
Georgia State Board of Entomology,
what this state has saved in the re-
cent past on account of strict quaran-
tine laws against plant insects and
diseases. Hundreds of thousands of
dollars more might have been saved,
if the quarantine laws had been en-
acted in time to keep out such pests
as the destructive San Jose scale.
Native enemies to vegetation, says
the department, in recent bulletin,
have grown steadily worse with i'm
proved agriculture; and it is the duty
of the state, through the department,
as we'll as through laws governing the
shipment here of plants and trees, to
meet these problems of seriously in
furious insects and diseases, to eradi-
cate them where possible, and In any
event to minimize their power to de-
stroy.
If the quarantine laws were not en-
acted in time to keep out the San Jose
scale, they came soon enough, State
Entomologist E. Lee Worsham points
out, to hold back the Mexican cotton
boil weevil, until he gets here by his
own unaided efforts. If it had not been
for strict observance of the Georgia
quarantine laws the cotton boil Vice.
vii and other pests would have been
in this state twelve to fifteen years
ago.
Makes Careful Inspection.
Through the State Department Of
Entomology, Georgia now makes an
annual inspection Of all plants and
| trees offered for sale in the state,
and does not permit the sale or distri.
button of a single specimen that is
| diseased. The department, likewise,
| maintains, under the Georgia laws, a
strict quarantine against infested
nursery stock from other states and
| foreign countries. No nursery stock
can be shipped into Georgia from any
where unless it has a certificate of
inspection from the entomologist in
| the state or country in which it origi-
mates, as we'll as a certificate from
the Georgia Department of Entomol-
| wise, are In violation of the Georgia
law and subject to prosecution. No
person can even give legally to his
friend or ne1ghbor trees or plants I'M
less they have been inspected by the
State Board of Entomology and found
| to be healthy.
With the exception Of the boil Wee
vii there are no more serious insect
pests occurring In this country than
brown tail and gypsy moths now pres
ent in New England and many parts
of Europe. There is a strict Quaran-
tine on all plants from New England
and other infested areas of Europe.
This is regarded as so important that
careful inspection of all shipments
of nursery stock from foreign coun-
tries is made upon arrival in the state,
even though such shipments bear a
! certificate of inspection from an Off
cial inspector.
Other Dangerous Pests.
Some of the pests which are serious,
and do not now occur in Georgia, are
the Morellos fruit worm found in Mex
leo, the olive fruit worm of the Medi-
terranean countries, and various scale
insects attacking fruit trees in China,
Japan and other Oriental countries
which are just as serious as San Jose
scale. Some Of the plant diseases are
such diseases as potato wart" found
in Hungary and now occurring in Eng
land and other European countries
and in New Foundland; and the white
pine blister rust of Europe which
would probably mean complete de-
struction Of our pines.
The Georgia quarantine against
Mexican cotton boil weevil consists of
strict prohibition of the shipment of
all articles from boil weevil areas that
are liable to contain weevils such as
seed cotton, cotton seed, cotton seed
hulls, cotton seed sacks, pickers'
sacks, corn in shuck. Spanish moss
and household goods packed in any
materials liable to contain weevils.
Until recently there was a strict quar-
antine against cotton lint in bales or
compress, but it is believed by all en-
tomologists to be entirely safe to per-
nit such shipments and the quar-
antine has been lifted by the state
on cotton lint.