PROCEEDINGS OF NINETEENTH FRUIT GROWERS' CONVENTION. 7 



appalling in its results, will be the consequence. I am well aware of the 

 feeling that is so deeply rooted in the American mind regarding the free- 

 dom of the citizen — that dislike of prying into the motives and actions of 

 the individual. Such a political policy in our early history was safe, 

 because the whole population possessed that degree of honest and indus- 

 trious habits which made it unnecessary to adopt laws regarding the 

 private character of the citizen. In journeying between my place and 

 Santa Barbara, a distance of twelve miles, it is rarely that I do not 

 meet one or more tramps, and sometimes as many as ten or a dozen. 

 I presume this is the condition generally in Southern California. Many 

 are vicious looking and nearly all are foreigners. Our fruit orchards are 

 accessible to these hungry vagrants. California is likely to suffer more 

 from this evil than any other State, for the reason that our climatic 

 conditions make it possible for this class to rove from place to place 

 almost every day in the year. I hope and trust that the fruit-growers 

 and farmers in every district will interest their representatives in the 

 next Legislature to seriously consider this question. I recommend that 

 a committee be appointed to draft a law that will prevent vagrant wan- 

 dering. 



Investigation of Parasites for Predaceous Insects. — The marvelous suc- 

 cess that has been attained by the importation of beneficial insects that 

 prey upon the enemies to our fruit products has more than met our most 

 sanguine expectations. We have realized results, established by the 

 most convincing proofs, that the parasites now at work will keep in 

 check nearly all, if not all the scale insects that exist in California. 

 The State has been saved millions of money by their introduction. It 

 is to be hoped that the investigation will be continued until every insect 

 enemy to the products of the soil will have its parasite discovered and 

 colonized, that the cultivator may be protected from any^naterial injury 

 by insect pests. 



I have to report that in Santa Barbara County the Rhizobii have 

 been most successful in destroying the black scale, the apricot scale, the 

 brown scale, the aphis on the walnut and on the orange, and the aphides 

 generally that feed upon plant life. Freedom from these enemies is 

 reported from every place where they have been successfully colonized. 

 There are one or two orchards where the managers are antagonistic to 

 this mode of warfare, and who continue to spray and fumigate. The 

 orchards under their control are black, smutty, stunted, and present 

 most striking evidence in favor of parasites. The orchards adjoining, 

 where the Rhizobii have been colonized, are almost free from insect pests 

 and in beautiful condition. This is so notorious that it is the common 

 talk of all the fruit-growers in the community. 



A very interesting report by Alexander Craw, the Entomologist of 

 the State Board of Horticulture, is to be found in the " Pacific Rural 

 Press " of October 5th. 



I consider this discovery the most, important that has taken place in 

 the last century. The development of this principle has to do with 

 every product of the soil. It secures to the cultivator freedom from the 

 destruction of his crops by the ravages of insects; it will be the greatest 

 source of economy; it will encourage his efforts and his labor, and 

 increase the value of his home. It should teach us humility, and 

 impress upon us our dependence upon the results of the workings of 



