64 REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF HORTICULtURE. 



bility to spraying is demonstrated, all large orchard men will 

 adopt it. 



It is a fact that there is always a demand for the best. 

 There is not enough of the best in any community. If the- 

 fruitgrower wants a demand for the product of his orchard her 

 must produce the best. He must defend his orchards against 

 fungous diseases and insect pests, and he can do so with an 

 intelligent use of the spray-pump. 



In closing this, my first report, I cannot do so without offering 

 a few suggestions. While the fruit industry of this district is 

 growing, representing, as it does, thousands of dollars in cap- 

 ital invested, with an estimated income that goes to the grow- 

 ers and resident labor of nearly half a million of dollars this 

 year, the amount of means allotted the commissioner each 

 year is not adequate to the extent of his district and labor 

 expected of him. To cover the third district from east to 

 west requires him to travel a distance of nearly five hundred 

 miles airline. Only about one hundred and fifty miles of this 

 distance can be done by rail. Orchards back from the line of 

 the railroad must be reached by team. With the gross amount 

 allotted — about $450 per annum — with hotel, stable, and rail- 

 road expense, which comes out of this amount, but a small 

 amount is left to the commissioner ; in fact, it makes it im- 

 possible for him to do the field work that should be done an- 

 nually in the interest of the industry. Taking into consider- 

 ation the fact that the fruit industry is one of the permanent 

 industries of the state ; that from year to year it is increasing, 

 adding to the wealth of the state rapidly, constantly increas- 

 ing the taxable wealth of the state, it should be encouraged 

 and protected by liberal ( not extravagant ) legislation . It 

 should be remembered the real and permanent prosperity of 

 a country begins when agriculture and horticulture have 

 evolved so far as to be self-sustaining, and to leave the soil in 

 constantly better condition for plant growth. Agriculture, 

 when at its best, remains forever in the same place, and gains 

 in riches with the vears. 



A. H. CARSON, 

 Commissioner Third District. 



