Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1914-01-08
Temporary Quarantine Against Powdery
Scab Extended to Include Europe
and Dominion of Canada.
WILL LIFT QUARANTINE
WHEN DISEASE IS OVERCOME
Powdery Scab is Harder to Control or
Eradicate Than Scab and Effort
is Made to Keep 1t Out.
UNITED PRESS LEASED w1ar.l

Washington, D. c., Jan. THE Sec
retary of Agriculture recently issued
two orders relating to the admission of
foreign potatoes into the United
States.
One of these orders provides for the
admission Of disease-free potatoes from
uninfected foreign districts under prop
er regulation and inspection.
The other order, to protect American
potatoes from the powderscab and
other diseases, temporarily extends the
quarantine effective since September 20,
1912, against the importation of pota-
toes from Newfoundland; the islands
of st. Pierre and Miquelon; Great
Britain, including England, Scotland,
Wales and Ireland; Germany, and Aus
tria-Hungary, to include also the rest
of continental Europe and the Domin-
ion of Canada. This quarantine be-
came effective December "a, except
that shipments covered by consular in
voices issued on or prior to December
"a, 1913, will be admitted up to Janu-
ary 10, 1914.
As soon as any county or district
can be shown to be free from potato
diseases, the quarantine will be lifted,
and potatoes will be admitted under
proper regulation and inspection, as
provided in the other order. 1t is pos
.sible that, in case of certain provinces
in Canada, and certain countries and
districts in Europe, the absolute quar-
antine can be lifted in time to allow
the later movement of the present
years crop under regulation and in
spectiOn.
Regulation and Inspection.
The order relating to the admission
of potatoes under inspection extends
to potatoes, the nursery stock regula-
tions of the Plant Quarantine Act. This
means that in the future no potatoes
can be imported until the importers
have secured permits from the Federal
horticultural Board similar to those
now issued to importers Of nursery
stock. Potatoes, to be admitted, must
be certified by the government of the
country of origin to be free from dan
gerous diseases and insect pests new
to or not widely prevalent in the United
States and must have been grown in
a district free from wart disease and
powdery scab. Regulations governing
these importations will soon be issued,
and steps will at once be taken to COM
plete arrangements with foreign gov
ernments for the survey and designa-
Aion of disease-free districts.
Need of Foreign Potatoes
The present potato excitement is ap-
parently due to a misinterpretation of
the yield of his year. The Statistician
of this department estimates that the
yield of this year is 33l ,525,OO bushels,
which is considerably above the lO.year
average and exceeds the annual food
and planting consumption Of the potato
in the United States. The price of
potatoes in centers Of origin is still
reasonable or low, and the problem
seems to be one merely Of distribu-
ton. The testimony from all parts of
the country, as given at last Thurs
days hearing, was that the supply in
farmers hands is very large. Farmers
as well as dealers denied the charge
that spectators had acquired control
of the potato crop, Farm prices have
been low for some weeks
The total importations from foreign
countries during the six years prior to
the quarantine were only l.27 per cent
of the total consumption. Imports
varied from $4,000 bushels in 1906 to
100000 bushels in l9ll year Of
short American production due to
drought when the crop was estimated