98 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
as far as it goes it is mere idle talk to 
say that citrus canker is confined to any 
one known spot. With over two hundred 
infections in Dade county, with probably 
one hundred and fifty of these active in¬ 
fections, with the migratory birds flying 
to and from these groves to other parts 
of the state, traveling workmen going 
from one part of the state to another, 
families moving from one place to an¬ 
other, it would be remarkable indeed if 
the disease can be confined to a few lo¬ 
calities. I would not be at all surprised 
sometime during the next month or so, 
during the time the trees are putting on 
their spring growth, if in other parts of 
the state there will be reports of the dis¬ 
ease breaking out. 
I said at the Gainesville meeting that 
the growers there were not represen¬ 
tative growers and one might say that 
the growers in this Society are not rep¬ 
resentative growers. Perhaps you are in 
a way, but you are representative of the 
intelligent, up-to-date and active class of 
growers. If all the growers were in your 
class, the fight over the state as a whole 
would be much more easily won. It can 
be taken for granted that property own¬ 
ers who are members of this Society, who 
attend these meetings and attend the 
Seminar meetings will be well enough in¬ 
formed to know when the canker breaks 
out in their groves and will realize the 
dangers which will come if the disease 
is permitted to develop unmolested. But 
there is an element that does not belong 
to the Horticultural Society, that does not 
attend meetings or read bulletins, who are 
just as liable, and perhaps more liable to 
get citrus canker than you are. If canker 
breaks out in some of your localities with 
this element to deal with, it is to the mem¬ 
bers of this Society we will have to look 
for leadership in the fight against it. You 
must take the lead and see that there is 
no trifling, for you have been warned, 
and forewarned is forearmed. 
A year ago, possibly half a year ago, 
one might have been justified in experi¬ 
menting with different methods or at¬ 
tempted cure; there is absolutely no justi¬ 
fication of that now. The only course to 
take now is absolute destruction of infect¬ 
ed trees. The only excuse for hesitating 
to apply this Spartan remedy is ignorance 
and we trust the presentation of the case 
of citrus canker which has been made this 
afternoon will go a long way to remove 
any ignorance on the subject. 
In Dade county we % have had consid¬ 
erable experience in combating this dis¬ 
ease and we consider that we are fairly 
well educated in that line now, but it has 
been an expensive education and if that 
education had to be repeated all over the 
state in each citrus district there would 
not be much hope. The virulence of the 
disease has been brought out by every 
speaker this afternoon. 
The fact that where canker is known it 
can be eradicated is our only encourage¬ 
ment. Six months ago we could not say 
that. Mr. Burbank has stated in his paper 
that we have no ground for stating abso¬ 
lutely that a large bearing grove, once in¬ 
fected with canker, could be cleaned up. 
I believe he is correct. I do not remember 
of a single instance where the disease has 
infected a large bearing grove that it has 
been completely eradicated as yet, but in 
smaller groves we have demonstrated that 
