26 
PROSPERITY VS. INSECT PESTS. 
In passing from place to place since I have been in the State, and 
more particularly in visiting the different parts of Los Angeles County, 
I have been struck with the wonderful activity everywhere manifest in 
real estate, Land is ‘‘ booming” in all parts of the country, but no- 
where has it reached such proportions, it seems to me, as right here in 
this part of California. There does not, at first, seem to be much con- 
nection between the real estate boom and the scale-insects of the 
Orange. But lam quite sure that the rapidity with which your orange 
orchards have been and are being converted into town blocks and 
town lots has a marked influence on the spread and increase of these 
scale insects; for no sooner does the owner of a grove subdivide and 
sellit than the different new owners allow it to “run to grass,” so to 
speak, and for miles around all your thriving and growing centers of 
population may be found neglected orchards upon which the insects 
are reveling and multiplying and scattering into those which are more 
carefully cultivated. ‘To this cause is, in my judgment, due very much 
of the rapid reinfesting of these cultivated orchards, so that your insect 
troubles are, in a measure, connected with your unp recedented growth 
and prosperity. 
NOT AN UNMIXED EVIL. 
Finally, let me say, before taking my seat, that your scale insects are 
not an unmixed evil. With your lovely climate, rich and varied soil, 
and the many other advantages which your beautiful country possesses 
for the cultivation of the orange and most other fruits, the business 
would soon come to be overdone and rendered unprofitable, could every 
one, before planting his trees, feel sure of an abundant and fair crop 
without having to contend with difficulties. Under these circumstances, 
it seems to me that even the dreaded scale-insects, by driving the thrift- 
less to the wall and giving the careful and intelligent man who persists 
in destroying and defeating them better prices for his product, may, 
after all, prove a blessing in disguise. One thing is sure, it is pure folly 
to talk of giving up the battle and abandoning the field to these, your 
tiny foes. There is no insect that is invulnerable, or that we may not 
overcome, if we but attack it at the right time, in the right place, and 
with proper means and ability. You will, ere long, feel yourselves mas- 
ters of the situation, and if what I have said will aid in ever so little 
to give you the victory I shall feel abundantly rewarded. I havealready 
occupied more of your time than I intended to, and though much is left 
unsaid, even avout this single insect, I must close in order to leave time 
for discussion. In doing so, permit me to congratulate you as a Board 
for the good work already done, and to prophesy that in future years 
when the fair and unrivaled fruit of this coast shall have multiplied be- 
yond the most sanguine vision of any of us, and have found its way in 
one forin or another to consumers in all parts of the world, the people 
of California will gratefully remember the work you instigated and the 
battles you fought. Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you. 
