PROCEEDINGS OP THIRTY-THIRD FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 39 



system, and the failure of this effort has been by too many erroneously 

 and unreasonably laid at Professor Waite 's door. It is probably true 

 that the pear orchards were doomed before Professor Waite had ever 

 been invited to come to the State. The growers attempted to administer 

 the pound of cure, but they had spurned the ounce of prevention. 



Professor Waite is here and perhaps needs no defense at my hands, 

 but I insist that this work has not been done under the Waite system. 

 I well remember Professor Waite 's advent into this fight and I know 

 the line of action that he laid out. I feel safe in saying that in not 

 a single county did the Horticultural Commissioners get behind him 

 in this fight. I am led to believe that it is debatable ground whether 

 or not the County Horticultural Commissioners have sufficient power 

 to act in such matters without the authority of the State Horticultural 

 Commissioner. 



As far as I know, the State Horticultural Commissioner's office has 

 never taken any active interest in pear blight. As a County Horticul- 

 tural Commissioner and in my own interest, some few weeks ago I 

 decided to find out what help could be had from the State Commis- 

 sioner's office toward fighting pear blight in Yuba County, seeing what 

 a fizzle the County Commissioners had made of their efforts along the 

 same lines in the past. I wrote a letter to the State Commissioner's 

 office in which I recited the fact that there were a number of commer- 

 cial pear orchards in my vicinity, the owners of which were making 

 an expensive and determined effort to control the pear blight therein. I 

 further recited the fact that in Yuba County there are a number of 

 neglected and abandoned pear orchards, which are teeming with pear 

 blight and which are a constant and terrible menace to those who are 

 endeavoring to save their properties from this destructive agency. The 

 ]etter concluded by asking the State Horticultural Commissioner for 

 his authority to prosecute the work desired to be done. This letter 

 was signed by myself and Mr. Harney as County Horticultural Com- 

 missioners. In reply we received a letter in which we were thanked 

 for our annual report as County Horticultural Commissioners and in 

 which our request for power to act was absolutely ignored. This ex- 

 perience confirms my belief that the State Horticultural .Commission- 

 er's office wants nothing to do with pear blight. This office, I believe, 

 has not given as much assistance to Professor Waite as have the dif- 

 ferent County Boards, none of which has been of any practical value. 



Now, strange as it may seem, the parties most interested, the growers 

 themselves, have in many cases met the proffered assistance of Pro- 

 fessor Waite and his fellow-workers with bitter antagonism, if not 

 open hostility. They have attempted to belittle his efforts, have tried 

 to poke fun at the Professor and his work, and have successfully held 

 up and nullified the Waite campaign against blight. But I am not 



