PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 57 



Speaking of the inspection of nursery stock reminds me of the sub- 

 ject that was very prominently before the meeting this afternoon and 

 discussed very ably and entertainingly by so many of our growers 

 here, and that is the standardization of fruits. The inspection of nur- 

 sery stock is so closely interwoven with that subject that if we had 

 time we would like to discuss that matter. We frequently pass nursery 

 stock that I am ashamed to pass in our county, not only citrus but 

 deciduous of all kinds. Unless we can find insect pests or evident 

 disease we have to pass it, but it frequently is absolutely worthless. It 

 comes without proper root form, gnarled, crooked, and a grower that 

 is unfortunately enough to put that out will never reap any profit on 

 it. I don't think it would be necessary to legislate, but I think the 

 nurseryman and the grower could get together and that we could soon 

 eliminate any such thing as seconds in nursery stock. A gentleman 

 came to me a couple of weeks ago, a newcomer, and he had bought a 

 tract of land and expected to put out a citrus orchard ; I think it was 

 something like ninety acres. He said, "I have two propositions on set- 

 ting out my new purchase. ' ' He gave me the name of the nurseryman 

 and the locality. He spoke of one which he called seconds, three 

 quarters of an inch through at so many inches from the ground. The 

 other was his first class and measured an inch to an inch and a quarter. 

 The price of one was 90 cents and the other $1.25. I said. "You had 

 better pay two dollars and get first class than take the others at nothing. 

 When you take into consideration that it will take six to seven years to 

 bring even the best stock into profitable bearing, it will take double 

 that length of time to bring inferior stock, and you will never get the 

 benefit of it. It will cost you just as much for an orchard with infe- 

 rior stock." I think when we come to standardizing or improving the 

 quality of our fruit it must start right with the nursery. I believe that 

 is the place to start. (Applause.) 



MR. RODGERS. I am going to ask Mr. Dudley Moulton, quarantine 

 officer of our State, located at San Francisco, to address us on the better 

 interpretation of our quarantine laws. 



MR. MOULTOX. I will speak for just a few minutes on what I 

 think is the best interpretation of our quarantine laws. You under- 

 stand, of course, that the object of quarantine is to keep out from the 

 State injurious insects or pests and to keep injurious pests from being 

 transferred from one county to the other. The work of keeping injuri- 

 ous forms out of California comes directly to our State quarantine office 

 through shipments of stock from the East directly to the county com- 

 missioners, so that it very often happens that the county commissioner 

 is to act almost as the State quarantine officer would, and for that 

 reason it is very important that he be well informed on what insects 

 might be introduced that Avould be injurious. It has been said that if 

 a man were to begin when he was a boy and give five minutes every 

 day and night of his life to the study of a single insect, he would die 

 without having studied but a very small per cent of the insects that 

 are in existence. This simply emphasizes the fact that the field of 

 entomology is a very large one, and even when we are specially trained 

 or give up the most of our time to entomology we can not be informed 

 on all the insects that might be introduced, which would make it a very 



