52 PROCEEDINGS OP THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



In the working of this new commission the responsibility is put on 

 one man. That man passes an examination to show that he is qualified 

 to do the work of the commissioner, and is held responsible, you might 

 say, for this amount of work. It is also intended to draw the commis- 

 sions closely together, and we expect the final result will be that the 

 commissioners will all work in more unison, that everybody will use the 

 one best method, and that they will work in conjunction with the State 

 Commissioner of Horticulture ; that is, we will be like one body and do 

 the work with no friction or pulling apart. (Applause.) 



MR. RODGERS. Mr. Hecke of Yolo County will next address you. 



MR. HECKE. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Genth mi n : I have not had 

 the advantage of having been a horticultural commissioner for many 

 years, in fact my appointment only dated from last year, yet at the same 

 time I have attended these horticultural conventions and have followed 

 with great interest the various things that they had to tell before we 

 succeeded in getting our new law passed by the legislature. I think 

 that this new law is decidedly a great advance over the old law. How it 

 is going to work out in the different counties remains to be seen. There 

 is no question in my mind but that in southern California it is exar-tly 

 the proper thing. Whether it is going to work out to the same full 

 advantage in the north will have to be proven later on, but I think it 

 will. 



I have made a few short notes and I would like to speak some about 

 the way of bringing the horticultural commissioners into closer contact 

 with the State Commission. I think that our State Horticultural Com- 

 missioner, Mr. Jeffrey, has inaugurated a very good way of bringing 

 these together, and that is, to hold meetings in the different districts, 

 and thus get the growers in direct contact with the State Commission. 

 I think this is a very necessary thing to do for this reason, that so many 

 of the fruit growers do not have the time and have not been educated 

 to attend this State meeting, Avhich occurs only once a year, but by the 

 State Commissioner coming to the different fruit districts and inducing 

 these growers to come to meetings, they will get gradually interested 

 in our work and we can get them to study these questions to better 

 advantage. 



We have not had an examination in our county yet, but it is possible 

 that in the next few months an examination will be held there. From 

 what I have heard, I believe this new law provides for all contingencies, 

 and while it does not specifically say that the wheat question shall be 

 examined into. I presume it will be touched upon in the part which 

 says that the horticultural commissioner shall have practical knowledge 

 in pruning and horticultural work. 



The fact that the horticultural commissioner must be a resident of 

 the county is a good feature. I think he should be vitally interested in 

 keeping insects or fungus pests out of the county. Furthermore, by 

 being interested in the county, he is not only the scientific bug hunter, 

 but he should also be the friend of the fruit growers, and in making 

 his tours around the country he should consult with them as to the best 

 methods of fighting the various insect pests. For instance, the spraying 

 for peach blight or for apricot fungus, which is practically the same, 

 must be done at the proper time of the year or the results will be very 



