FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
103 
better work ancl whether one gang needed 
pushing or the other slowing up. We 
could not tell by going out and looking 
at the groves, so we watched the different 
gangs, and learned what to expect from 
each. 
There has not been much spreading of 
canker in this territory during the past 
six months, although we have continued 
to find it in the groves that were badly in¬ 
fected when we began our work. It is 
apparently impossible to take a badly in¬ 
fected grove and clean it of canker in a 
few months. It has happened that the 
owners of some of our infected groves 
have hampered our work to some extent, 
in one way or another, and we feel if we 
could have had our own way at all times 
we should be nearer the end of our work. 
Canker started before we did, and got 
well established in certain places before 
we began our work, and it is in these 
places that it continues to appear, week 
after week, in spite of our destroying it 
as fast as we find it. We will burn all 
the canker in these groves, and go back 
the next week and find a few infections, 
and then the following week find much 
more. Sometimes a grove will go several 
weeks and not show much canker and then 
it will break out again, and this will be 
repeated from month to month. 
Eleven hundred thirty-six g'rove trees 
and about thirty-five thousand nursery 
trees have been burned on account of 
canker in the territory of this association. 
Let canker once get well established in 
your bearing grove, and I would not give 
much for the grove. We have not proved 
as yet, that a bearing grove can be freed 
of the disease, after it has got a good start. 
There are several cases where we have 
destroyed the first infection and have 
found no more, but we have not a single 
instance of where we have been success¬ 
ful in cleaning out a bad infection in a 
bearing grove, although we are finding 
less and less, and most of it is young 
canker on the new spring growth. 
We have had a hard time raising money 
to carry on the work. It has been very 
unfortunate for the work, that at this time 
fruit has been bringing in so little money, 
as we have not received from the growers 
the contributions that we expected. Our 
own sources of revenue are about ex- 
♦ 
hausted and we shall have to cut our force 
down. 
There is no disease of citrus trees that 
will in so short a time ruin a crop. It 
spreads more quickly on the young fruit 
than on any other part of the tree and 
covers the fruit with what looks like spots 
of tar and sand. It is this that we have 
been fighting and it is this that we must 
eradicate if the citrus industry of Florida 
is not to be wiped out. 
