FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
3i 
the plant roots before they can get it. 
And we now know that more frequent ap¬ 
plications of smaller quantities will en¬ 
able the plants to get more of it, yet 
the general practice of making heavy 
applications still continues in spite of 
the fact that loss could be prevented 
by using the same amount in smaller 
doses. Again we know better than we 
do. 
For many years it has been gener¬ 
ally accepted that our citrus trees are 
better off with a minimum amount of 
pruning. This principle seems to be 
sound enough, but some of us are in¬ 
clined to carry it too fan Our Experi¬ 
ment Station workers have pointed out 
the menace to the health and welfare 
of our citrus trees that lurks in the 
dead twigs and branches that are so 
often in great evidence in our tree 
tops. They are responsible for a long 
list of crimes against tree health. 
Wither-tip, anthracnose, melanose, 
stem-end rot and perhaps other dis¬ 
eases are carried over from one season 
to another in dead twigs and branches. 
Time and time again this fact has been 
held up before our gaze, and still the 
dead wood remains in thousands of 
trees throughout the state. And we 
t 
wonder why our crops are light, and 
why our fruit does not carry well to 
market. The value of grove sanita¬ 
tion has been made plain to us, yet 
we have not done the things we know 
we should do. 
For a number of years past the 
United States Department of Agricul¬ 
ture has carried on a series of experi¬ 
ments in the handling of fruits and 
vegetables in this state. From this 
work much valuable information has 
been gained and plainly set before us. 
Is it too much to say that the results 
of these investigations properly ap¬ 
plied along the lines they have indi¬ 
cated would entirely revolutionize our 
fruit handling? Already a long step 
has been taken in this direction, but 
much yet remains to be done in apply¬ 
ing the principles laid down. Every one 
knows how to pick, handle and pack 
fruit, or if he does not know, there is 
no excuse for his ignorance, but it is 
not done as it should be. Were it only 
the individual who suffered it would 
not perhaps be so grave, but outside 
and beyond the individual is the good 
name of Florida, which every good 
shipper of good fruit adds lustre to, and 
from which every bad handler of poor 
fruit detracts. The benefits which 
should have come to us from the les¬ 
sons gained in fruit handling have fall¬ 
en very far short of what they might 
be, simply because we have not used 
the knowledge at our disposal. 
Our orchards and groves and fields 
and gardens are unfortunately troubled 
by more pests in the way of diseases 
and insects than we like to have. The 
returns from our labor and investment 
would be larger and our peace of mind 
would be better were there fewer of 
them. One very important thing has 
happened, however. The causes of these 
diseases and the life histories of these 
insects have been studied and their 
mysteries and secrets laid bare, thanks 
to the efforts of investigators entrusted 
with these problems. The unexplored 
