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TWENTY-EIGHTH FRUIT-G ROWERS 5 CONVENTION. 



" We will have a law of that kind next session," we will have it. And 

 why shouldn't we? It would cost nothing compared with the advan- 

 tages we would derive from it. When, as Dr. Wall says, it is probable 

 that all of these insects have, in their native land, a natural enemy 

 which will hold them in check, we are justified in the belief that if we 

 could get these natural enemies here they will hold these insects in 

 check here. I want to speak of something which occurred in Washing- 

 ton that has, I think, sublimity in it. Twelve years ago Professor Erwin 

 Smith was appointed to look for the cause of peach yellows. You all 

 know what a bad enemy that is to the peach. I hope we will never 

 have anything like it in California. At the end of the first year he 

 reported, "I do not know anything about it more than I did when I 

 commenced." The Government said, "Go ahead." The second year 

 he made a similar report, and the Government said, "Keep on." The 

 third year he said, " We haven't anything important," and the Govern- 

 ment said, " Persist." And so on, for all these years. There is not 

 much discouragement about that. I say, let us not be discouraged, not 

 give up, but let us go to the Legislature determined to win, and let us 

 have a man appointed, to be kept in the field all the time — the best man 

 we can get. We had a good one — the man who went off and was stolen 

 away from us. I do not believe in trading off a good horse when in the 

 middle of a stream, and I think probably he is just the man. But we 

 ought to have a man there all the time, because it seems to me the pos- 

 sibilities of it would be just tremendous and would do away with this 

 matter of spraying, fumigation, or anything e]se, in very many cases; 

 and I hope we won't get discouraged, but demand this measure from our 

 Legislature. Mr. Cooper said yesterday, " Let us go to Congress." I do 

 not believe we would have half so good a chance there, because the 

 whole country is not so interested as we are. Our interests are so con- 

 centrated; it is the fruit interest, and a matter of so much importance 

 to us. And I believe that the place for us to work, and work effectively — 

 and we can do it if we say we will — is with the next Legislature, and 

 have some man go into this field and keep right at it all the time. 



MR. SCOTT. I do not disagree with the gentleman. But I say that 

 the fruit-growers are the people who are interested in this question and 

 if we want any help we ought to help ourselves. We now have an 

 organization down here for handling our fruit — citrus fruits, at any 

 rate — and there is no reason why we could not do this work ourselves. 

 If the growers will agree to subscribe one cent a box for all the fruit 

 they ship, they can employ their own man to do this work — employ 

 him and pay him well — one man or half a dozen, if you will. One cent 

 a box will pay for all that work. There will be no politics in it, but 

 work, and we will get done what we want. We can get half a dozen 

 men all over the world to work for us, for one cent a box, and we do not 



