96 



TWENTY-EIGHTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



Mexican orange,". and in order to settle his stomach he had to par- 

 take of something stronger than soda water. 



It is not alone from Mexico that we have to fear fruit-flies that attack 

 oranges, for they are found in Fiji and portions of Australia. The mag- 

 got of a nearly related fruit-fly (Trypeta fraterculus) attacks peaches 

 in the State of Vera Cruz, Mexico. It works in the same manner as 

 the " orange maggot." There is little danger to us from that source, as 

 very few peaches are grown there and none for export. Still, forewarned 

 is to be forearmed, and it gives us a stronger argument in favor of 

 national horticultural quarantine at our gateways. Peaches are exten- 

 sively cultivated in the United States, and such a pest would in time be 

 a wider spread nuisance than the orange maggot. 



Unless our national government takes action to prevent the introduc- 

 tion of infested fruits we can not hope to be long exempt; with the ports 

 of the Eastern and Southern States open, the flies will finally get a 

 foothold. 



Since the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands, personal baggage on 

 ships plying only between there and our local ports is free from customs 

 inspection, and there is some danger of the introduction of a serious 

 fruit-fly (Dacus cucurbits?) that destroys 75 per cent of the melon, 

 cucumber, and summer squash crop about Honolulu, where it was intro- 

 duced a few years ago, I believe, from Japan, as I have found and 

 destroyed cucumbers infested with that pest from the latter country. 

 For several years we have refused admission of the above products from 

 the Islands. Formerly they were imported from there during the winter 

 and spring. After a few shipments had been burned, Byron 0. Clark, 

 then Commissioner of Agriculture for Hawaii, took the matter up and 

 questioned my right to destroy any but those found infested. I replied 

 that I had no time to personally inspect ever}^ melon, cucumber, and 

 squash to ascertain if it was free from eggs or newly-hatched larvse 

 of the fly. I suggested that he advise the planters of the Islands not to 

 grow such crops for California, for they would not be admitted. I noti- 

 fied the quarantine officials of the other Pacific States and British 

 Columbia of the danger. Last January, Mr. Wray Taylor, Commissioner 

 of Agriculture, visited us to consult regarding the drafting of a horti- 

 cultural quarantine law for the Islands. He stated that he had been 

 requested to ascertain if such products as were mentioned above were 

 grown under glass and an affidavit to that effect accompanied each 

 shipment, would they be admitted ? I replied in the negative, because 

 we could have no assurance that the ventilators and doors were fly- 

 proof, or that the flies would not be admitted when a person entered or 

 left the glass house. He said he anticipated what my answer would be. 



Bermuda has a peach maggot (Ceratitis capitata). In referring to 

 this species, Dr. L. O. Howard says: "In Bermuda, some years ago, the 



