88 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
have again shown canker even after that 
length of time. This shows how very 
tenacious the disease is. We may think 
that a grove has been clean but it may 
not be so. However, the groves that have 
passed twelve weeks, or twelve successive 
inspections, without showing disease very 
seldom show canker again, and of the 201 
infected groves in the county some ninety 
have been clean over twelve weeks, and 
the number is slowly increasing, which en¬ 
courages us to believe that eradication is 
possible. 
In these diseased properties we have 
found and destroyed by fire, since we first 
began our campaign of eradication, 5750 
grove trees and 388,063 nursery trees. 
The total cost of this fight in Dade county 
up to the present time has been $26,903.29. 
This includes what the United States De¬ 
partment of Agriculture has expended up 
to April 1st, but does not include what 
The Florida Growers and Shippers 
League has expended, neither does this 
include the volunteer work given by the 
growers themselves which, reduced to dol¬ 
lars, would be some $2400.00. Assist¬ 
ance from other interests will amount to 
over $1,000.00. 
An important feature of this canker 
fight in Dade county has been the noble 
effort put forth by the women of the Red¬ 
lands. When funds were low and things 
looked discouraging, the Womens Citrus 
League, some sixty-one strong, came to 
their financial and moral assistance, 
the relief of the work by contributing 
Money was raised by giving' entertain¬ 
ments, suppers, etc., and in this way they 
raised over six hundred dollars, which has 
been turned over into the canker fund. 
They have also saved for the Association 
over one hundred dollars in making in¬ 
spectors’ suits, or uniforms, which other¬ 
wise would have had to have been bought 
outright. 
It’s a difficult matter to get exact in¬ 
formation as to the actual loss to the 
growers whose property has been de¬ 
stroyed. A large number of the trees 
burned were small ones, which have been 
planted not over a year or two, the loss of 
these is not large; however, some of the 
trees which have been burned were capa¬ 
ble of producing from ten to twenty boxes 
of fruit per year. For instance, we 
burned one tree which last year netted its 
owner about fifty dollars. A conserva¬ 
tive estimate of the loss of the burned 
grove and nursery trees would be nearly 
fifty thousand dollars. It would be im¬ 
possible to estimate the losses otherwise 
sustained, since, for instance, a grove 
where canker is known to exist will not 
sell for any price, whereas before it would 
have brought thousands of dollars. 
One of our greatest troubles has been 
trying to prevent the spread of this dread 
disease. Regarding* the virulent parasit¬ 
ism of citrus canker, there is no possible 
question. It is easy to demonstrate this 
by making artificial inoculations upon 
healthy trees, especially when there is 
abundant new growth. Past investiga¬ 
tions have shown that the spores are 
ejected during and after a rain. Wheth¬ 
er these extremely small bodies are blown 
about by the wind or not is not absolutely 
known. It is conceivable, however, that 
they may be blown about by the wind as 
far as rain or spray is blown. We do 
know that they are constantly being 
