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Re: USDA Plant Sale Restrictions

At 12:55 PM 4/1/98 -0800, R. Beer wrote:
> <snip>
>One would think that only mail-order nurseries would be hard hit, but
>there are problems for others as well,    <snip>           "I
>can't see any benefit." he states, "I'm supposed to check driver's
>licenses and not sell to anyone from outside Rhode Island?  Is a Japanese
>beetle going to fly to the border 3 miles away and say 'oh, I better make
>sure I got a passport?' What possible benefit can this have?" 
>
>Counters APHIS's Kennedy, "Look at the alternatives -- rust-ridden
>wheatfields, medfly decimations of orange crops.  A day without orange
>juice is, after all, a day without sunshine, which is why not much orange
>juice is sold in Seattle.  Don't they have enough rhododendrons there
>already?  What good's a new shasta daisy going to do you when orange juice
>costs 5 dollars a pint and your bread's so full of fungal spores it looks
>like a brillo pad? 

A rather uncaring attitude on the part of this agency.  I would
put forward that this new state-to-state restriction will only
cause people to 'smuggle' plants more often.  I have always
felt that proper education and PROPER regulation would be best,
not only educating the consumer, but also rewarding those
growers who do a good business and follow the rules.  Dan Hinkley
is a good example, suppying rare and unusual plants to
gardeners who would not be able to find them elsewhere (not merely
another shasta daisy!), and routinely shipping across borders.
Plants I have purchased from him perviously, with certificates
for California State authorities, have routinely been completely
ignored as I cross the border - even when I try and show off
the fact that I went to such trouble over the certificates.

Now, under this new regulation, people will merely hide the
plants (not saying I will ;-) and not declare them.  As there
is no 'legal' means, people will act illegally.  There is no
education or protection in this action.

 Sean A. O'Hara                     sean.ohara@ucop.edu
 710 Jean Street                    (510) 987-0577
 Oakland, California 94610-1459     h o r t u l u s   a p t u s
 U.S.A.                             'a garden suited to its purpose'
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