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



PROFESSOR HERMS. Not of the true malaria, I should say. Of 

 course, in the transmission of a disease like malaria or any one of 

 these diseases just referred to, you must first figure on the disease 

 being there in order to be transmitted. Of course, the house fly could 

 not transmit any of these enteric fevers, like typhoid, if typhoid were 

 not there to be transmitted. 



MR. DARGITZ. . Just a little incident that occurred about a year 

 ago. It shows how easily we sometimes can eradicate these pests. I 

 was called to a neighbor's where they stated that the mosquitoes had 

 become such a pest that they were inclined to sacrifice their property 

 and go back East, had become disgusted and thought California was 

 nothing but a nest of mosquitoes. I made some inquiries and finally 

 told them to pour half a cupful of kerosene in the sink and let it find 

 its way to the cesspool through the drain, and they did so, and in 

 twenty-four hours they said they had no more mosquitoes and had 

 none after that all summer. 



PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The next on the program is "Planting 

 Good Health on the Farm," by Dr. W. F. Snow, of the State Board of 

 Health. (Applause.) 



PLANTING GOOD HEALTH ON THE FARM. 



By Dr. W. F. Snow, Secretary State Board of Health. 



Planting good health does not differ in principle from planting any 

 other crop. Good seed must be sown in the right soil and with due 

 regard to the environment. Many things must be done between the 

 planting and the harvest if one expects a maximum yield. The fruit 

 farmer follows up his planting by making a business of aiding the 

 growth of his trees. He protects them against drought by irrigation, 

 against frost by smudging, against insect pests by fumigation, and by 

 the importation of friendly insects to prey upon the pest. 



The infant trees are wrapped in swaddling clothes in winter and 

 provided with sunshades in summer. Being clothed they must be fed. 

 The farmer studies their diet and buys the necessary fertilizing chem- 

 icals advocated by the horticultural experts. Their leaves must have 

 sun and their roots must be housed in properly ventilated soil, there- 

 fore, the farmer cultivates his land and battles with the weeds. And all 

 the time he is saying to himself, "In a few years more they will begin 

 to bear fruit." 



The placing of wind stakes and props, the digging for borers, the 

 all-night irrigation, the fight with the birds and the rabbits, are but 

 incidents in the day's work of the successful fruit farmer. 



And then when the crop has matured must the trees be ruined and 

 the fruit lost because there are no strong men to harvest it? Has the 

 farmer, in his efforts to grow trees, forgotten that it is necessary at 

 the same time to grow boys and girls if he would ultimately reap the 

 full reward of his planning? The labor-problem is unquestionably a 

 serious one for California horticulturists. A most important factor 

 in this problem is good health, and this can be cultivated, adapted to the 

 environment, and made to yield good returns. It is, therefore, a legiti- 

 mate subject for your earnest consideration during this convention. 



