FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
IOI 
trip. The manager of your league feels 
that every effort should be made to eradi¬ 
cate by digging up and burning every 
tree that shows a trace of this disease in 
the state. It would have been far better 
if this action had been taken a year ago 
when the disease was first discovered, 
and I feel confident that if this league had 
been in active existence at that time, such 
measures would have been taken. Un¬ 
fortunately during the winter months it 
has been impossible to locate much of this 
disease, and we are only now able to be¬ 
gin an active campaign of cleaning up the 
state. Unfortunately our state legisla¬ 
ture has given to the nursery inspection 
work but a very small appropriation, and 
it is very doubtful whether this work can 
be carried out under state direction, pro¬ 
viding we cannot secure additional funds 
from some source. The details of this 
eradication work I am going to leave for 
Dr. Berger to describe. I am glad to 
say, however, that the Board of Con¬ 
trol of the State has taken steps to 
keep out of Florida all nursery stock, in¬ 
cluding bud-wood, coming from all of 
the Gulf States where this disease is 
known to exist. Unfortunately, however, 
we are again confronted with the lack 
of funds to properly see that this law is 
enforced. One of the things that the 
league is planning to do, and do vigor¬ 
ously, is to present the needs to our state 
legislature in its next session, for a con¬ 
siderably larger appropriation for nursery 
inspection work. The league also favors, 
and will attempt to have passed a much 
more definite law, giving the Board of 
Control sufficient authority to shut out 
from this state not only nursery stock, 
but if it sees fit, all sorts and kinds of 
fruits, seeds or anything else upon which 
new diseases or pests are liable to be 
brought into the state. 
CO-OPERATION WITH THE FEDERAL HORTI¬ 
CULTURAL BOARD. 
In recent years the Federal Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture has received the 
authority to place a very strict quarantine 
against nursery stock or fruits or seeds 
coming from foreign countries, or moving 
from one state or territory to another 
state or territory, providing these plants 
or fruits or seeds are liable to scatter any 
new or not generally-distributed disease. 
The administration of this new law is 
through the Federal Horticultural Board. 
Quarantines have been placed against 
fruits coming from countries affected 
with the Mediterranean fruit fly and many 
other pests. The one which affects Florida 
most, in my opinion, is the Mexican fruit 
worm. This is especialy disastrous to 
citrus fruits, and I can assure you that if 
Florida citrus growers had this pest to 
fight it would be a serious question as to 
whether the industry could survive. The 
power of this Horticultural Board is tre¬ 
mendous, and if Florida once secured this 
Mexican fruit worm it is more than prob¬ 
able that the Federal Horticultural Board 
would place an embargo upon citrus fruits 
leaving the State of Florida. The work¬ 
ings of the Horticultural Board in this 
connection are illustrated in the new po¬ 
tato disease which has been found in 
Maine, and if it had not been possible to 
discover a method of inspecting seed po¬ 
tatoes leaving Maine, an absolute embargo 
would have been placed upon all Maine 
