FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
113 
been more fully explained. Until we 
know more of the causes and of the 
means of avoiding this disease, we shall 
be in essentially the same position as the 
physicians and veterinarians who were at¬ 
tempting to combat yellow fever and ma¬ 
laria in the human family, and the Texas 
fever in cattle, before the relationship of 
the mosquito and the tick to the transmis¬ 
sion of these diseases was definitely as¬ 
certained. Most thorough and careful 
experiments should be made on every dif¬ 
ferent type of soil used in this State for 
the growth of citrus trees, and this seems 
to be one of the greatest needs of the cit¬ 
rus industry in Florida at the present 
time. It is not enough to have one ex¬ 
periment station, but experiments should 
be conducted in all of the important citrus 
districts in which different types of soil 
are represented. 
FERTILIZER INSPECTION 
y 
Before closing, I wish to say a word 
about the fertilizer law in Florida. I 
trust I may be able to qualify as a compe¬ 
tent witness for the reason that I was for 
four years connected with the fertilizer 
inspection in Massachusetts, and for more 
than twenty years had general charge of 
the chemical work connected with ferti¬ 
lizer inspection in Rhode Island. 
I notice that there is a tendency in some 
states to require the manufacturer to 
name the sources of the materials used in 
his goods. In this connection it should 
not be forgotten that requirements of this 
kind are of no use whatsoever, unless the 
chemist can substantiate or disprove the 
claim of the manufacturer. Further¬ 
more, such requirements are often con¬ 
trary to the best interests of both the pur¬ 
chaser of the fertilizer and the manufac¬ 
turer. 
For example, there are a considerable 
number of materials rich in nitrogen 
which, in their natural, untreated condi¬ 
tion, are generally known to have a rela¬ 
tively low crop-producing value, but when 
properly treated in the fertilizer factory, 
are capable of transformation into mate¬ 
rials as valuable as or in some cases even 
more valuable than the best organic am- 
moniates with which we are familiar; 
such as, dried blood, tankage, and cotton¬ 
seed meal. If the manufacturer is obliged 
to state that these materials are used, it 
is likely to create a prejudice against the 
fertilizer, whereas the fertilizer really 
will be of very superior quality if these 
same materials are subjected to proper 
factory treatment at the outset. Further¬ 
more, after treatment, the nitrogen may 
be present in compounds entirely different 
from those existing before the treatment 
was applied. Such requirements are 
about on a par with the requirement that 
a manufacturer of turpentine must state 
that he used long-leaved pine in his prod¬ 
uct. It is true that special crops seem to 
be of better quality when certain ammo- 
niates are used than when others are em¬ 
ployed, and any manufacturer with his 
future at stake strives to furnish that 
which will give the best results. It is of 
great importance to know the availability 
of the ammoniates in the fertilizer; but it 
can do no one any good to state what they 
were once, what they are not now, and 
what they never will be again. A law of 
this character, which requires the mak- 
