Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 1, Number 4, DeMotte, Jasper County, 18 August 1932 — LOCAL PRODUCE IS BARRED BY ORDER [ARTICLE]

LOCAL PRODUCE IS BARRED BY ORDER

ILLINOIS CORN BORER TINE IN EFFECT. Lake County and Northern Indiana truck growers are hard hit by an order just put into effect by Governor Emerson of Illinois in a proclamation which sets up a quarantine against the European corn borer and bars from the state of Illinois all corn and a long list of garden truck as well as flowers. The proclamation provides that no living larvae, pupae, or adults of the Europeans corn borer, cornstalks, corn ears, corn cobs, or any part of the debris of corn or broom corn, sorghum and sudan grass, except shelled corn and the seeds of broom corn, the seeds of sorghum and the seeds of Sudan grass, oat or rye straw, as such, or when used as packing which have been grown in any of the states designated as infested can be moved across the quarantine line. In addition it excludes celery, green beans in the pod, beets with tops, rhubarb and a number of different varieties of flowers. However, there is a provision which these latter named plants may be admitted if the box, car, bundle or other container has attached to it a personally signed certificate of a duly authorized state inspector certifying that the contents have been inspected and found to be free from the European corn borer. Truck farmers and growers of sweet corn are very much concerned about this new ruling. They have put out quite large acreage of sweet com and other truck crops expecting to market them at the Chicago market and now when the harvest is just getting under way find that market closed to them. Unless something can be done in the very near future it will result in thousands of dollars of loss to the people of this county. Every effort is being made to work some solution by P. T. Ullman, who is in charge of the corn borer control in Indiana. A squad of eight men have been sent to this territory to help with inspection in an effort to release a part of this territory. So far no corn borers have been found; however, due to the lack of funds its was necessary to eliminate the corn borer patrol and quarantine lines this year so that it is almost certain that the farmers will not be able to market their sweet corn in Illinois. County Agent L. E. Cutler is endeavoring to work out a plan whereby the corn borer free regions of Lake County can be exempted from the Illinois quarantine. A meeting of several hundred truck growers was held on Friday evening at which plans were discussed. Mr. Cutler has been appointed as Assistant State entomologist, as such is qualified to inspect and pass shipments of produce across the state line. Department of Agriculture workers have been spending several weeks inspecting the corn fields of Lake County, but so far have made no report of their findings. The usual corn borer quarantine which has been in effect for several years was discontinued this year, owing to lack of funds to carry on work, and this state wide quarantine is the result of a failure to maintain local quarantines.