Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-12-30
JARD|NE APPROVES
BAN ON NARC|SSUS
UphoIdS Quarantine Against
imported Bulbs, Effective
January |.

! by the late Secretary of Agriculture
! Wallace, has been upheld by Secretary
Jardine and will go into effect Jan
uary i, as scheduled it was announce.
| last night. Other bulbs to which the
/ quarantine was to have applied, how
! ever, will be permitted entry under
permit and Inspection, pending further
invest iGation.
The quarantine has been vigorously
| opposed by national examinations, In
| Guiding the Garden Club of America
and was the subject OF hearings here
| in November. AT that time the De
partment presented lengthy arguments
| in favor of the restriction, and was
supported by the American Bull
! Growers committee The Garden Ciul
| Of America and several importers
groups stood soldly for admission o
the bulbs.
| Secretary Jardine's decision. it was
| explained at the department, was
made after careful consideration o
| the situation in the light of evidenc,
! submitted at the conference held q
| Washington in November" In com
menting on his action, the Secretar
said the information available in 49,
on the entry OF pests on these bult
! undoubtedly justified fully the placin;
of the restrictions, and that hte fact
Obtained since that time have en-
phaSized the menace to agricultur
then indicated"
His Statement Follows.
The Secretary's statement, Settint
forth the decision. follows:
1t il unfortunate that in protec;
| ing our various crops against pest
and diseases some interests must SUI
fer. The evidence shows the DANCE
TO be such, however, that l feel II:
one charged with the safeguarding OF
American agriculture could do other
than restrict the entry Of these bulbs
do not doubt the sincerity of those
who have reached other conclusions
and ! have considered their argu.
| ments carefully, but the weight OF
evidence seems TO me to rest in favor
Of retention Of the restrictions.
The evidence available at presen
indicates that none OF the three I'M
portant pests usually associated Will
the imported narcissuS bulbs has We,
become 50 Well established in the
country as to make control measures
useless. \ review OF the present sit
uatiOn indicates that even In the dis
! triCtS where they have gained a foo
hold they may be materially controlled
and possibly eradicated. especially in
the case OF the two bulb flies. We are
going To give these districts a chance
to clean up. They have promised to
do so. and the department will insist
that this be done at the earliest date
possible.
Have Right to Protection.
with respect to the two bulb flies,
| their establishment even on the Pa
cifc Coast is far from being general.
! Taking the paintings as a whole, the
percentage of infestation does not
amount TO more than a fraction of l
per cent. In the eastern section of
| the United States the infestation by
! the lesser bulb fly is still compare
/ lively trivial. and there seems to be
! no clear record in this section of es-
| Enlistment Of the larger bulb fly. At
/ least it is evident that large produc-
I ing areas in the eastern United
! States-some of them going back to
! from these pests. 1t would appear
! that these regions have Il right to
/ protection from them.
| The lesser bulb fly is an important
| onion pest. In the Pacific Northwest
! it has already occa stoned serious dam
i age in onion paintings. =. 1t Is impor-
tant TO note that 1t has not yet
, reached our chief areas of onion pro-
duction. Producers in those areas, as
we'll as all other onion producers in
| the United States. have a right to
protection from this hazard.
There is no question as to the Sc
robustness of the eelworm menace to
our alfalfa and clover crops. They
have been attacked in certain regions.
but the evidence indicates that most
of the United States is still free from
this pest.
20 Different Insects.
"Of great Importance, also, is the
| possibility of casual or accidental
entry with narciSSuS bulbs of insect
| pests which may have little or no eco
! noilic relation to the bulb industry
| but may carry a serious menace 20
, other farm crops. For example. some
/ 20 different insects have been inter
( cepted with importations of narcissus
bulbs alone. and among these are such
VEL known injurious pests as the Eu-
rcpean earwig, already established and
proving to be very troublesome in
: Rhode Island and in the State of
Washington and also various wire
worms, very destructive to cereals and
other crops in Europe.
The public is naturally interested in
! he question of the immediate or fu-
ture availability of the narcissus bulbs
! II was brought out at the conference,
, that there are now planted and grow
/ ing in the United States some Is 900. :
! 400 of these bulbs, nearly double the
quantity which is normally imported
+ furthermore, the needs for this Win
ter's forcing and next years planting
have already been met by importa-
Iions Of this~year which must exceed
+ nose oI any previous year. There
I seems. therefore. no iust ification for a.
/ material increase in price"
! The retention of the restrictions
| on the entry Of narcissus bulbs. the
/ Secretary pointed out in answer to
. charges that the Department of
/ Agriculture had been actuated by
motives of trade protection, is based
exclusively on evidence of insect dam
I ser to agriculture and horticulture.
administration of Act.
The plant quarantine act" he
continued, lis being administered and
! will continue to be administered sore
| " for protection against insects and
! diseases and in no sense as a sub
terfuge for trade protection. 1t is
true, as has been often declared. that
J there is Il nttrciSSuS bulb industry
! i'll this country, part OF it biting from
! Colonial times part of it established
/ Siilte tHe le6 uldlioiiS were announced
and that the restrictions on bulb en-
| try may, temporarily at least, benefit
! this industry. This fact, however,
cannot be considered one way or the
other in administering the law"
The restrictions on the entry of
| eight other classes of bulbs trans
! ferred from the restricted 10 the free
| list in 1922 for Il three-year period
! have been postponed to give more
! opportunity to determine the risk in