FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
91 
John'’ is a budder who has strewn canker 
in his trail for the last six months, being 
employed in budding small nurseries for 
a number of persons. Every nursery he 
has budded, and every grove he has cut 
bud wood from has developed canker. In 
spreading canker from tree to tree in a 
grove the most important agents are in¬ 
sects and men, particularly by cultivation 
and fertilization. In this connection two 
groves are known in which chickens 
spread it broadcast. In spreading canker 
over a tree after one infection gets on it, 
insects, ants, and rain are the most im¬ 
portant agents. 
Unless you are acquainted with the con¬ 
ditions, the precautions taken by the in¬ 
spectors will appear useless and amusing. 
As an example, let us take the inspection 
force of South'Dade County, where 65 
men are employed in the inspection work 
The whole force is under a committee of 
three from the local growers’ association. 
Directly in charge of the men is a foreman 
and squad leaders. The foreman has di¬ 
rect charge and general supervision of the 
inspection. The inspectors are divided 
into thirteen squads of five men each, of 
which one is a squad leader, who is re¬ 
sponsible for the work of the squad, and 
has complete authority over it. Some of 
the general requirements of the inspectors 
are that they shall be residents of the dis¬ 
trict, members of the local association, 
either grove owners or the sons of grove 
owners, and shall be vouched for by two 
grove owners not related to them. The 
following are instances of some of the 
things an inspector has to do; wear a 
linen suit that completely covers his cloth¬ 
ing, which has to be disinfected in mer¬ 
cury bichloride every time he comes out 
of an infected grove, and on quitting work 
in the afternoon, if he has not been in an 
infected grove, disinfecting shoes, leg¬ 
gings, hat, hands, etc., in addition. The 
following are some of the things that he 
must not do: touch any part of a citrus 
tree with his hands or clothing; when it 
is necessary to turn over a leaf or fruit of 
a tree use a stick, which must not be car¬ 
ried from that tree; not talk unnecessar¬ 
ily; not pass any suspicious spots without 
showing them to his squad leader; not 
carry any leaves or fruit, whether they 
have canker on them or not. 
In this district there are about 900 
groves in which no infections are found, 
and these are divided into five districts 
covered by five squads called advance in¬ 
spection squads, who never go into an in¬ 
fected grove. There are 168 infected 
groves in this district, which are divided 
into- two classes, those in which no infec¬ 
tion has been found for three months, and 
those in which there has been. There are 
six squads assigned to the latter class that 
cover every grove in it once a week. The 
groves once infected, but clean for three 
months, of which there are 69, are divided 
between two squads that cover each grove 
twice a month. 
In conclusion, the ease of spreading cit¬ 
rus canker causes workers with it to take 
a> 
as great precautions as physicians in an 
epidemic of bubonic plague. 
