PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 55 



qualify. Now. for instance, say one man would pass and he is the only 

 man in his county. He wants to be conscientious; he wants to make up 

 his mind whether he would make a good commissioner or not before he 

 takes the office. He may be a man that would harass the fruit growers, 

 throw them into convulsions. I had the same thing this year. A man 

 came along and struck a little insignificant fly and he telegraphed to 

 Sacramento that the aleyrodes had appeared. When a commissioner 

 takes an examination he must intend to fulfill that job that he contracts 

 to do. He can 't go around trading horses, because it will take all his 

 time, and he will have to keep up with his job. 



MR. RODGERS. Pardon me. Mr. Costello. Suppose that we carry 

 out the program as laid out and then we will discuss these matters. 



MR. HECKE. Mr. Jeffrey, wouldn't it be a good idea to discuss 

 this question ? 



PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We are going to, after awhile, and then 

 Mr. Costello and everybody else will have an opportunity. 



MR. RODGERS. Mr. R. P. Cundiff. "A More Uniform System of 

 Inspection. Particularly in Regard to Nurseries." (Applause.) 



MR. CUNDIFF. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I was cer- 

 tainly very much entertained and instructed with our very splendid 

 program this afternoon, and came here hoping that I would not be 

 called upon to attempt to address these people upon any subject, and 

 late this afternoon I had an intimation I would be called upon to say 

 something in regard to this question — a more uniform system of inspec- 

 tion. If we consider the vast amount of damage that the horticultural 

 and agricultural interests of this country sustain every year from 

 insect pests and diseases, and the further fact that the transmission of 

 nursery stock from one section to another is perhaps the greatest factor 

 in that dissemination. I think the subject that has been assigned to me 

 would cover a great deal more time than I would feel like giving it 

 this evening. I do not know whether this is supposed to apply to nur- 

 sery stock at its final point of destination or at the point of embarka- 

 tion or where it is shipped from. However, I think that the nursery 

 stock should be inspected carefully at both points, in the nursery or 

 before it is shipped, and again at the final point of destination, and 

 by the most expert men that we can get, men who are perfectly familiar 

 with the different diseases and pests that they are liable to come in con- 

 tact with in examining this stock. It is a habit or custom in this 

 State — I believe it is not obligatory by any State law; it is simply a 

 matter of county ordinances — that the shipments of nursery stock all 

 over this State are usually inspected and accompanied by the horti- 

 cultural officer's certificate at the point where it was examined. To 

 reexamine it at the point of final destination does not imply any 

 criticism of the ability, integrity or honesty of the man who inspected 

 it in the first place. It may be that this stock has traveled a consider- 

 able distance, consumed a considerable time, and that there were insect 

 pests in the egg form or embryo form that it would be almost impossible 

 for any inspector to detect, that would develop in a form that would be, 

 perhaps, easy to detect them at the point of final destination or before 

 they were planted out. 



I think I need but refer to the fact of the benefits of careful inspec- 



