At several keys ports in these United States groups of devoted federal employees put in long hours of detective work to protect American gardeners, nurserymen, florists and farmers from insect pests and diseases coming from foreign lands. Their job is to keep any undesirable plant pests from entering this country.
Until early 1900's, no attempt was made to prevent the entry of plant pests into this country. Once American scientists and agriculturists realized that insects and diseases which had been troublesome in other countries were becoming problems in this country, the necessary forces were set in motion, resulting in the enactment of the Foreign Plant Quarantine Act of 1912.
Following are a few reasons for the passage of this very comprehensive law to prevent the unlimited importation of plants from abroad:
1. The discovery that large numbers of white pine seedlings infested with blister rust, a highly fatal fungus disease, were being imported into the United States;
2. The observation that a great deal of nursery stock imported from Europe harbored egg masses of the gypsy moth, the worm stage of which could defoliate a whole forest in just a few days;
3. The discovery and rapid spread of the chestnut blight disease, and the introduction of the highly destructive potato wart disease from Europe.
Advocates of a federal law to restrict the unlimited importation of plants therefore had many sound arguments for the enactment of the Plant Quarantine Act.
Plant pests can enter this country via three main avenues: in commercial shipments; in baggage and in mail; and as "free riders," either as stowaways or with plant material in stores or furnishings of ships and planes.
Although the greatest amount of plant material enters this country via commercial shipments, there is less chance of introducing harmful pests by this means than through the other avenues for several reasons. Such plant materials come from a known source and are grown by standard commercial methods. Moreover, they are inspected and certified by the country of origin and require a permit before entering. Lastly, the plant materials are carefully inspected upon arrival in this country and treated chemically, if necessary, before being released to the trade.
Material arriving via travelers' baggage or in mail shipments is far more difficult to detect. Such material usually comes from the back yards of persons in all parts of the world and naturally is not grown and harvested with any idea of plant sanitation. Pest interception records show that a greater number and variety of dangerous pests arrive by this channel than by any other.
The "free riders" entering with plant materials in stores and furnishings of ships and planes do not present too much of a problem.
Most plant materials imported for growing in this country come under Quarantine 37 and are thus subject to inspection on the piers upon arrival. In the fall, huge quantities of flower bulbs including tulips, narcissi, lilies, hyacinths and crocuses arrive from Holland, Belgium, France, Italy, Bermuda and Japan. Not only must representative samples of each shipment be inspected but any packing materials must also be carefully examined. If any soil, forest litter or willow ties are used, the shipment is destroyed because these materials are known to harbor harmful organisms.
In order to ease the rush at this end, bulbs grown in Belgium and Holland are inspected and cleared in those countries by a team of American plant quarantine inspectors.
The inspection work at the port of New York is typical of that done at several other ports in this country. It is divided into three phases. The first is the Import and Permits Headquarters at Hoboken, New Jersey, where import permits are issued and the inspection (and treatment if required) of propagative plant materials exclusive of seeds and bulbs is carried out. In a typical year a staff of twenty-five, including seven scientists, handle more than a million woody ornamental plants and over two million perennials.
Second is the Port Inspection Section, which inspects bulbs and seeds and non-propagative materials such as fresh fruits and vegetables in ships' cargoes, stores and passengers' baggage.
The third, known as the Post-Entry Quarantine Section, is responsible for the restricted growing in this country of plants imported from abroad, in order to be sure that such plants are free from any serious diseases or insect pests before they are released for sale or for general propagation. This section acts as the parole board of the plant world. Recently more than three million plants were under post-quarantine surveillance.
A ship arriving from a foreign country is boarded as soon as possible by a plant quarantine inspector. Fresh stores are examined and any suspicious material is taken ashore for more careful examination. If the material is found to harbor any pests or diseases considered dangerous to our vegetation, it is confiscated and destroyed.
As thousands of passengers each day arrive in New York, only a small percentage actually carry plant materials, a quarantine inspector must be present. About ninety-nine per cent of the persons arriving are subject to customs examination, and the plant inspector must stand by to intercept or permit the entrance of plant material.
With the increase of air travel in recent years, airports have become, quite naturally, important ports of entry and must be adequately policed to intercept harmful pests. New York International Airport is the largest and most important in the New York area, handling over ninety-five per cent of the overseas air travel. At this airport alone a dozen or so inspectors are kept busy.
A large amount of plant material is confiscated from the baggage of incoming travelers. Some figures are typical. In October in 1952, more than a thousand interceptions of contraband plant material were made from ship passengers arriving from thirty-seven different countries.
The quarantine authorities realize that a parasitic fungus or bacterium regarded abroad as of trivial or minor importance may become a formidable and destructive enemy when it becomes established in the United States.
So if you are one of the thousands of travelers returning from foreign countries, please leave any plant materials in those countries, or at least declare them upon arrival. The quarantine inspector will decide whether they can be brought in. Commercial growers, botanical gardens and agricultural experimental agencies are allowed to import certain plants, but such materials are placed in quarantine under jurisdiction of the Post-Quarantine section until it is ascertained that they are free from undesirable alien pests or plant-care.com/house-plant-pest.html house plant pests.
Americans should realize that the movement of plant pests into a country works both ways. Some notorious pests have reached foreign shores in materials shipped from this country. Two early and famous ones, which almost wiped out the French wine industry about a century ago, were the downy mildew fungus and the aphid known as the grape phylloxera.
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