13 



the investigation of this subject and the university authori- 

 ties have done their part; but we are still very much at 

 sea as to what to do and how to do it. Conclusions will not 

 be reached in a day as the result of any investigation ; but 

 if the experiments are conducted with such care and thor- 

 oughness as a corps of trained men can give to them the 

 conclusions, when reached, will make possible immunity 

 from any such general and disastrous loss as came to the 

 orange and lemon growers last December. 



If the picture I have drawn regarding conditions in the 

 orange industry seems rather a dark one, there is a bright 

 side which ought to be given equal prominence. Some of 

 the most important benefits and improvements that have 

 come to the industry in recent years have been the direct 

 result of scientific research by representatives of the state 

 university and the federal department of agriculture. 

 While we expect much greater things of the university in 

 the future, we have not forgotten the good work done, with 

 limited facilities, under the direction of Professor Hilgard 

 and Professor Wickson. The orange growers remember 

 their deliverance from the cottony cushion scale by the 

 vedalia cardinalis and the prompt and effective work done 

 to stamp out the dreaded white fly, just as the lemon men 

 deeply appreciate the important work accomplished in the 

 investigation of the brown rot, and as other industries 

 appreciate the work in their behalf on the walnut blight, 

 the pear blight, the tomato rust and other troubles with 

 which the farmers of the state have had to contend. The 

 improvements in methods of handling oranges suggested 

 by Mr. G. Harold Powell have been generally adopted and 

 without doubt have saved the growers upwards of 

 $1,000,000 a year. Mr. A. D. Shamel, another expert from 

 Washington, is now studying the problem of barren and 

 productive strains of oranges and has already demon- 

 strated the fact that quite a large percentage of the trees 

 in our orange groves were budded from unproductive stock, 

 thus greatly diminishing the yield which should be received. 



