14 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-THIRD FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



nide in the fumigation of trees; Husmann is established in the Sacra- 

 mento Valley working out the problems of vine stocks, varieties, and 

 vineyard conditions ; Waite is with us both in person and with a corps 

 of assistants lending a hand toward the control of the most virulent 

 disease known to pomology; Mackie is engaged in mapping the soils 

 of this section; Pinchot is patrolling the mountains of the State and 

 planting the forests anew for the protection of our water supplies, and 

 many individuals upon the payroll of Uncle Sam are pursuing lesser 

 avenues of investigation throughout the State. The head of one of 

 the above departments invited me the other night to attend a chance 

 meeting of his young associates at the Capital City. When these young 

 men began to unfold the secrets of the vegetable world one might 

 think, "How fortunate that the Government had turned them out 

 into a valley broad enough and long enough to hold all this learning. " 

 Before the evening was over I was ready to vouch for every one of 

 them as a practical man, without fads or visionary pursuits, and 

 thoroughly equipped for the work assigned him. These are the advance 

 guard of better horticulture, the young men whose success and standing 

 are bringing back to the farm the boys of the country, the men the 

 Government has sent among us to help in making fruit culture in Cali- 

 fornia more stable and profitable in all future years. 



But what are we of the State doing for ourselves? A great work 

 whose familiarity to our people should not lessen their appreciation. 

 California has two great departments charged with the promotion of 

 horticulture and kindred interests; namely, the University at Berkeley 

 with its various auxiliary stations, and the State Horticultural Com- 

 mission with its many correlative county organizations. The former 

 is delegated with the investigation of scientific problems touching the 

 interests of field and orchard farming; the latter with the practical 

 care and protection of the horticultural industries of the State. With 

 the exception of a very few unimportant but exasperating cases in these 

 two departments, they are in harmony and cooperation, and must be 

 brought into closer relationship to meet the demands of the people 

 who pay for their support. Unfortunately, the enactments under 

 which these coordinate institutions operate do not clearly define the 

 scope and duties of this dual responsibility, and it is therefore not 

 strange that pedantic criticism on the one hand and ignorant egotism 

 on the other have bubbled up occasionally, to the amusement or disgust 

 of the State. I am sure that both of these institutions will stand for 

 the removal of these frothy utterances in the future, for the betterment 

 of the great work before them. And the people will say, "Amen." 



The University of California is forwarding the agricultural interests 

 of the commonwealth in a manner excelled by similar institutions in 

 but few states, and not surpassed by any state if we take into consid- 



