THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



here that it would like in lieu of the cotton, the same as the white fly 

 traii^fprrod itself to some other plants when its food was all gone. 



^IK. JEFFREY. To-night, at the white fly discussion, you Avill 

 tind a chart showing about sixteen or eighteen food plants of the white 

 iiy in California, the Aleijrodes cifri, the orange white fly. There are 

 tAventy-two species of plants on which the white fly has been discovered 

 by our men at Oroville and ]\Iarysville, and that is one reason why 

 tiie white fly makes so much trouble. If it should break out in River- 

 side or Sa'n Jose, or Fresno, or any other place where they have a large 

 variety of exotic plants— imported plants — it would entail enormous 

 h)sses upon the people in the destruction of their favorite plants. And 

 I can see the boU weevil might adapt itself to other plants. At present 

 we don't know that it would. At any rate, we want to keep the boll 

 weevil out, because -down here at Imperial there are a few men from 

 Texas who are going to plant several hundred acres of cotton, and that 

 is what brought this matter about. They don't want to plant anything 

 but the particular Texas variety that they are familiar with, and don't 

 want to bring their seeds in from South Carolina, or other uninfested 

 districts; and it was to meet these men at Imperial that this quaran- 

 tine was ordered. We have broken doAvn the bars now — we have a 

 formal application from the Department of Agriculture to quaran- 

 tine the whole State against the introduction of a pest. Now, we 

 ask them to assist us in the quarantine work which has been very 

 recent, in regard to bringing in the new citrus varieties. The trouble 

 here is that there is a conflict of jurisdiction. If you put postage 

 on a package of plants, the postal law does not allow anybody to 

 handle that except the man to whom it is addressed, and our quaran- 

 tine is in direct conflict with that Federal law; for Ave pass a quarantine 

 measure which Avould require our inspectors to go to the post-office 

 and attempt to inspect the plants that might come by mail. Until 

 these laAvs are reconciled, I don't see hoAv Ave can prevent importations, 

 unless it is by moral suasion on the Postmaster General, in Avhich he 

 Avill instruct ever}' post office delivery clerk in the State to notify the 

 inspector in Avhose district the office is located of the arrival of plants 

 for a consignee, and give the inspector a chance to look at the plants 

 before they are dellA^ered or before they are opened. This is an enor- 

 mous danger. The people of ]\Iarysville and OroAnlle haA^e spent enough 

 money fighting one little pest to pay the expense of the countA^ horti- 

 cultural commissions of several counties for several years, and if it 

 should have broken out in Riverside the cost of its extermination would 

 have paid the expenses of all the officers af the State for some time. 

 If our Committee on Resolutions will take this up at the meeting to-night 

 Ave Avill have something practical from Mr. FoAvler's paper. 



]\IR. WRIGHT. I have a statement AA'hich corroborates AA'hat has 

 been said, that it is a constant danger Avhieli Ave are up against. I liaA^e 

 here a catalogue of a nursery in Florida advertising seeds, and they 

 publish testimonials. They prefix the testimonials Avhich they have 

 I'pceiA^ed during the year 1907 from the Pacific coast AA'ith a note, 

 ■'Owing to the great agitation in California oA'er the insects hereditary 



