PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-THIRD FRUIT-GROWERS f CONVENTION. 249 



The packers in dealing with the growers have always shown a sur- 

 prising lack of tact. One man among them, who will always do right, 

 when appealed to personally has been nicknamed in derision. Moral 

 honesty, the honesty advocated by Mr. Roosevelt, the honesty that is 

 honest because it is right, has been largely lost sight of and mere hon- 

 esty that serves to keep a man out of jail has taken its place. The 

 brotherhood of mankind has been forgotten by grower and packer 

 alike; it has become a game of who can beat the other. 



The present conditions are shown in the reluctance of the older set- 

 tlers to plant Muscat vineyards. The wine men are trying to discourage 

 the further planting of wine grapes. They certainly have stopped it 

 for some time by the policy of this year's settlements. When money 

 was scarcest and things looked darkest, the Wine Association paid the 

 growers in notes, at a low rate of interest, not due for six months. This 

 was the loyalty they have shown in helping the credit of the people. 



Phylloxera and pear blight are still in our midst. The vine disease 

 has not reached Fresno. The vine disease would be, like pear blight, a 

 wipe out. It would not pay to fight it. So far our vineyardists can, 

 like the good Indian, say, "Thank God that others are worse off." 



In fighting phylloxera we have the experience of Europe in growing 

 resistant roots. In Fresno it does not do to talk phylloxera. On one 

 vineyard, where vines were being removed as worthless, I said some- 

 thing about phylloxera, but the foreman was indignant and said, 

 "Why, it is only nematodes on the roots." I smiled, for all my neigh- 

 bors know so much more than I do that it is useless to say much. 



The right root on which to graft the Muscat has not as yet been 

 definitely settled. In South Africa the Rupestris Metallica has given 

 good results. The Rupestris St. George, that we all rushed for at first, 

 is at present rather under a cloud, as it has not proven altogether sat- 

 isfactory as a root for Muscat. The present root that seems most 

 promising is 1202 M (Morvedre Rupestris) of Franco- American stock. 

 This root has proven vigorous and seems to like Fresno conditions of a 

 rising and falling water table. 



After all, the grape industry in California is new, when compared 

 with the old world. New industries must find their places in the 

 world's economy. The new industry brings with it changed conditions 

 in the world's markets. Time will balance some of the evils of bugs 

 and bacteria. Fruit packing-houses that live on the growers' money 

 and hand out "red ink" are of a necessity self-limiting. They are like 

 the bacteria that die from their own poisoning. 



Let us not lose, in the present times of depression, the upward look- 

 ing toward better things. By our reaching out to help the small por- 

 tion of the world around us back to the old-time industry and honesty, 

 when labor had its own perfect reward in its honest pride of achieve- 



