x 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
and with fewer failures, we must have 
more information of a fundamental na¬ 
ture from those sciences on which our 
practices are based. 
In any grove to begin with, we must 
have good trees from the nursery—trees 
with plenty of vitality. In the future we 
will demand that these trees be “pedi¬ 
greed.” 
The soils in our groves are more or less 
unknown quantities; and one of the big 
problems in connection with it is how 
to build up the humus content without in¬ 
ducing or favoring disease in the tree. 
Only a few years ago, we classed all 
organic matter in the soil under the term 
humus. But thanks to the workers of 
the Bureau of Soils of the United States 
Department of Agriculture, and other 
workers over the country, we know more 
concerning the nature of the organic com¬ 
pounds in the soil. They have found 
that certain of them are beneficial to 
plant growth and others are not. It is 
probable that in the future we will be 
able to make use of this information in a 
practical way. 
In the soil are contained myriads of 
fungi and bacteria. Our information con¬ 
cerning these is very meager. We should 
know more concerning the part these play 
in making plant foods available and their 
relationship to diseases in the tree. It has 
not been proven that Blight of the Cit¬ 
rus Tree is not due to the attack of some 
unknown soil organism. 
Again, we put large quantities of fer¬ 
tilizers on our soils without very much 
knowledge of what becomes of them, 
the changes they undergo, and their im¬ 
mediate and ultimate effect on the soil 
and soil organisms. The Tank Experi¬ 
ments at the Experiment Station are giv¬ 
ing us some surprising figures as to loss¬ 
es through washing and leaching. But 
this is only a step in the right direction. 
There is more to be learned concerning 
fertilizers themselves. Although there 
are many sources at our command, others 
may be found that are better and cheaper 
than those we have. Again, we are in 
doubt as to which of those at hand are 
the better sources for the tree under given 
conditions. This information must be 
obtained from extended experiments con¬ 
ducted under controled conditions. 
Again, there are the questions of cul¬ 
tivation and non-cultivation, and the ad¬ 
visability of allowing Bermuda grass to 
grow in the groves. Although we may 
have our opinions about them, we will 
have to admit that they are not settled 
questions. Irrigation, Drainage and Or¬ 
chard Heating have problems peculiar to 
themselves. 
In the way of methods for the syste¬ 
matic treatment and prevention of dis¬ 
eases, our needs are great. We know, 
for the most part, well enough how to 
control the individual diseases; but when 
our trees are attacked by a number of 
diseases at once, and the method of treat¬ 
ment for one is favorable to the develop¬ 
ment of the other, then we are puzzled. 
For example, you would hesitate to use 
Bordeaux mixture for the prevention of 
Melanose in your trees if they were al¬ 
ready infested with the purple scale. 
We need a pruning and spraying pro¬ 
gram for the year which will be econom¬ 
ical and at the same time efficient for 
the prevention of our fungus and insect 
