Chapter 308. To regulate the importation of nursery stock and other plants and plant products; to enable the Secretary of Agriculture to establish and maintain quarantine districts for plant diseases and insect pests; to permit and regulate the movement of fruits, plants, and vegetables therefrom, and for other
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CHAP. 308.— An Act To regulate the importation of nursery stock and other plants and plant products; to enable the Secretary of Agriculture to establish and maintain quarantine districts for plant diseases and insect pests; to permit and regulate the movement of fruits, plants, and vegetables therefrom, and for other purposes.August 20, 1912.[[H. R. 24119](/us/bill/62/hr/24119).][[Public, No. 276](/us/pl/62/276).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Nursery stock.Importing, without permit, etc., unlawful.
That it shall be unlawful for any person to import or offer for entry into the United States316 any nursery stock unless an until a permit shall have been issued therefor by the Secretary of Agriculture, under such conditions and regulations as the said Secretary of Agriculture may prescribe, and Certificate of foreign Inspection required.unless such nursery stock shall be accompanied by a certificate of inspection, in manner and form as required by the Secretary of Agriculture, of the proper official of the country from which the importation is made, to the effect that the stock has been thoroughly inspected and is believed to be free from injurious plant diseases and *Provisos*.Issue of permit.insect pests: *Provided*, That the Secretary of Agriculture shall issue the permit for any particular importation of nursery stock, when the conditions and regulations as prescribed in this Act shall have been Imports for use by Department.complied with: *Provided further*, That nursery stock may be imported for experimental or scientific purposes by the Department of Agriculture upon such conditions and under such regulations as the said Conditions if no inspection abroad.Secretary of Agriculture may prescribe: *And provided further*, That nursery stock imported from countries where no official system of inspection for such stock is maintained may be admitted upon such conditions and under such regulations as the Secretary of Agriculture may prescribe.
Sec. 2. Notifications of arrival at port of entry.That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury promptly to notify the Secretary of Agriculture of the arrival of any nursery stock at port of entry; that the person receiving such stock at port of entry shall, immediately upon entry and before such stock is delivered for shipment or removed from the port of entry, advise the Secretary of Agriculture or, at his direction, the proper State, Territorial, or District official of the State or Territory or the restrict to which such nursery stock is destined, or both, as the Secretary of Agriculture may elect, of the name and address of the consignee, the nature and quantity of the stock it is proposed to ship, and the country Forwarding without notification forbidden.and locality where the same was grown.
That no person shall ship or offer for shipment from one State or Territory or District of the United States into any other State or Territory or District, any nursery stock imported into the United States without notifying the Secretary of Agriculture or, at his direction, the proper State, Territorial, or District official of the State or Territory or District to which such nursery stock is destined, or both, as the Secretary of Agriculture may elect, immediately upon the delivery of the said stock for shipment, of the name and address of the consignee, of the nature and quantity of stock it is proposed to ship, and the country Inspection required.and locality where the same was grown, unless and until such imported stock has been inspected by the proper official of a State, Territory, or District of the United States.
Sec. 3. Marking, etc., required on goods entered.That no person shall import or offer for entry into the United States any nursery stock unless the case, box, package, crate, bale, or bundle thereof shall be plainly and correctly marked to show the general nature and quantity of the contents, the country and locality where the same was grown, the name and address of the shipper, owner, or person shipping or forwarding the same, and the name and address of the consignee. Sec. 4.
Marking, etc., required in interstate shipments.That no person shall ship or deliver for shipment from one State or Territory or District of the United States into any other State or Territory or District any such imported nursery stock the case, box, package, crate, bale, or bundle whereof is not plainly marked so as to show the general nature and quantity of the contents, the name and address of the consignee, and the country and locality where such stock was grown, unless and until such imported stock has been inspected by the proper official of a State, Territory, or District of the United States.
Sec. 5. Restriction on importing plants, etc., other than nursery stock.That whenever the Secretary of Agriculture shall determine that the unrestricted importation of any plants, fruits, vegetables,317 roots, bulbs, seeds, or other plant products not included by the term “nursery stock” as defined in section six of this Act may result in the entry into the United States or any of its Territories or Districts ofIssue of order. injurious plant diseases or insect pests, he shall promulgate his determination, specifying the class of plants and plant products the importation of which shall be restricted and the country and locality where they are grown, and thereafter, and until such promulgation is withdrawn, such plants and plant products imported or offered for import into the United States or any of its Territories or Districts shall be subject to all the provisions of the foregoing sections of this Act: *Provided*, That before the Secretary of Agriculture shall promulgate*Proviso*.Hearings, etc. his determination that the unrestricted importation of any plants, fruits, vegetables, roots, bulbs, seeds, or other plant products not included by the term “nursery stock” as defined in section six of this Act may result in the entry into the United States or any of its Territories or Districts of injurious plant diseases or bisect pests he shall, after due notice, give a public nearing, under such rules and regulations as he shall prescribe, at which hearing any interested party may appear and be heard, either in person or by attorney.
Sec. 6. That for the purpose of this act the term “nursery stock”“Nursery stock.”Definition of term. shall include all field-grown florists’ stock, trees, shrubs, vines, cuttings, grafts, scions, buds, fruit pits and other seeds of fruit and ornamental trees or shrubs, and other plants and plant products for propagation, except field, vegetable, and flower seeds, bedding plants, and other herbaceous plants, bulbs, and roots. Sec. 7. That whenever, in order to prevent the introduction intoPlant diseases and insect infestation.Determination of existence in country or locality. the United States of any tree, plant, or fruit disease or of any injurious insect, new to or not theretofore widely prevalent or distributed within and throughout the United States, the Secretary of Agriculture shall determine that it is necessary to forbid the importation into the United States of any class of nursery stock or of any other class of plants, fruits, vegetables, roots, bulbs, seeds, or other plant products from a country or locality where such disease or insect infestation exists, he shall promulgate such determination, specifying the country and locality and the class of nursery stock or other class of plants, fruits, vegetables, roots, bulbs, seeds, or other plant products which, in his opinion, should be excluded.
Following the promulgation ofImportations prohibited after promulgation of determination. such determination by the Secretary of Agriculture, and until the withdrawal of the said promulgation by him, the importation of the class of nursery stock or of other class of plants, fruits, vegetables, roots, bulbs, seeds, or other plant products specified in the said promulgation from the country and locality therein named, regardless of the use for which the same is intended, is hereby prohibited; and until the withdrawal of the said promulgation by the Secretary of Agriculture, and notwithstanding that such class of nursery stock, or other class of plants, fruits, vegetables, roots, bulbs, seeds, or other plant products be accompanied by a certificate of inspection from the country of importation, no person shall import or offer for entry into the United States from any country or locality specified in such promulgation, any of the class of nursery stock or or other class of plants, fruits, vegetables, roots, bulbs, seeds, or other plant products named therein, regardless of the use for which the same is intended: *Provided*, That before the Secretary of Agriculture shall promulgate*Provisos*.Hearings, etc. his determination that it is necessary to forbid the importation into the United States of the articles named in this section he shall, after due notice to interested parties, give a public hearing, under such rules and regulations as he shall prescribe, at which hearing any interested party may appear and be heard, either in person or by attorney: *Provided further*, That the quarantine provisions of thisQuarantine immediately effective. section, as applying to the white-pine blister rust, potato wart, and318 the Mediterranean fruit fly, shall become and be effective upon the passage of this Act.
Sec. 8. Interstate quarantine against plant diseases or insect infestation.That the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized and directed to quarantine any State, Territory, or District of the United States, or any portion thereof, when he shall determine the fact that a dangerous plant disease or insect infestation, new to or not theretofore widely prevalent or distributed within and throughout the United States, exists in such State or Territory or District; and the Secretary of Agriculture is directed to give notice of the establishment of such quarantine to common earners doing business in or through such quarantined area, and shall publish in such newspapers in the quarantined area as he shall select notice of the establishment of quarantine.
Shipments from quarantined localities forbidden.That no person shall ship or offer for shipment to any common carrier, nor shall any common carrier receive for transportation or transport, nor shall any person carry or transport from any quarantined State or Territory or District of the United States, or from any quarantined portion thereof, into or through any other State or Territory or District, any class of nursery stock or any other class of plants, fruits, vegetables, roots, bulbs, seeds, or other plant products specified in Movements of nursery stock subject to conditions.the notice of quarantine except as hereinafter provided.
That it shall be unlawful to move, or allow to be moved, any class of nursery stock or any other class of plants, fruits, vegetables, roots, bulbs, seeds, or other plant products specified in the notice of quarantine hereinbefore provided, and regardless of the use for which the same is intended, from any quarantined State or Territory or District of the United States, or quarantined portion thereof, into or through any other State or Territory or District, in manner or method or under conditions other than those prescribed by the Secretary of Rules for inspection, etc., to be issued.Agriculture.
That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of Agriculture to make and promulgate rules and regulations which shall permit and govern the inspection, disinfection, certification, and method and manner of delivery and shipment of the class of nursery stock or of any other class of plants, fruits, vegetables, roots, bulbs, seeds, or other plant products specified in the notice of quarantine hereinbefore provided, and regardless of the use for which the same is intended, from a quarantined State or Territory or District of the United States, or quarantined portion thereof, into or through any other State or Territory or District; and the Secretary of Agriculture shall give notice of such rules and regulations as hereinbefore provided in this *Proviso*.Hearings, etc.section for the notice of the establishment of quarantine: *Provided*, That before the Secretary of Agriculture shall promulgate his determination that it is necessary to quarantine any State, Territory, or District of the United States, or portion thereof, under the authority given in this section, ho shall, after due notice to interested parties, give a public hearing under such rules and regulations as he shall prescribe, at which hearing any interested party may appear and be heard, either in person or by attorney.
Sec. 9. Duty of Secretary of Agriculture.That the Secretary of Agriculture shall make and promulgate such rules and regulations as may be necessary for carrying out the purposes of this Act. Sec. 10. Punishment for violations.That any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this Act, or who shall forge, counterfeit, alter, deface, or destroy any certificate provided for in this Act or in the regulations of the Secretary of Agriculture, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court: *Proviso*.Common carriers.*Provided*, That no common carrier shall be deemed to have violated the provisions of any of the foregoing sections of this Act on proof that such carrier did not knowingly receive for transportation or319 transport nursery stock or other plants or plant products as such from one State, Territory, or District of the United States into or through any other State, Territory, or District; and it shall be the duty ofProsecutions. the United States attorneys diligently to prosecute any violations of this Act which are brought to their attention by the Secretary of Agriculture or which come to their notice by other means.
Sec. 11. That the word “person” as used in this Act shall be“Persons” to include corporations, etc. construed to import both the plural and the singular, as the case demands, and shall include corporations, companies, societies, and associations. When construing and enforcing the provisions of thisCorporations, etc., liable for acts of agents. Act, the act, omission, or failure of any officer, agent, or other person acting for or employed by any corporation, company, society, or association, within the scope of his employment or office, shall in every case be also deemed to be the act, omission, or failure of such corporation, company, society, or association as well as that of the person.
Sec. 12. That for the purpose of carrying out the provisions ofFederal Horticultural Board established.Composition. this Act there shall be appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture from existing bureaus and offices in the Department of Agriculture, including the Bureau of Entomology, the Bureau of Plant Industry, and the Forest Service, a Federal Horticultural Board consisting of five members, of whom not more than two shall be appointed from any one bureau or office, and who shall serve without additional compensation.
Sec. 13. That there is hereby appropriated, out of the moneys inAppropriation. the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended as the Secretary of Agriculture may direct, for the purposes and objects of this Act, the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars. Sec. 14. That this Act shall become and be effective from and afterIn effect October 1, 1912. the first day of October, nineteen hundred and twelve, except as herein otherwise provided. Approved, August 20, 1912.