102 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
potatoes. I do not want to cause you over 
anxiety in this matter of the Mexican 
fruit worm, or in fact the Mediterranean 
fruit fly, but I do know the attitude of a 
majority of the Federal Board, and I 
am very free to say that if we get either 
of these pests introduced into this state, 
the chances are more than good that we 
shall have an embargo placed against us. 
We already have sufficient authority to 
keep out these pests. What we do need, 
however, is a more rigid inspection at 
our ports. The Federal Board promul¬ 
gates the quarantine, but it leaves the in¬ 
spection work in seeing that these quaran¬ 
tines are enforced, to the state authorities. 
This league is now engaged in the study 
of condidtions that exist at the different 
ports in Florida, attempting to find out 
how great the danger of getting these 
pests is, through the importation of fruits 
either for commercial purposes or by pas¬ 
sengers. The Federal Board is willing to 
co-operate with us and if it seems advis¬ 
able, they will restrict the ports of entry 
in Florida. One thing we must do, we 
must establish competent, thorough in¬ 
spection at all of our ports where vessels 
are permitted to unload any and all kinds 
of fruits. The very fact that these impor¬ 
tations are small makes the problem still 
more difficult. 
There are in addition to these ques¬ 
tions several others upon which the league 
has done some little work. We attended 
the meeting at Ocala, in connection with 
the express rates out of Florida. The 
changes in express rates have been so 
radical, and the shippers had been so 
thoroughly misinformed as to the new 
rates that greatest good accomplished 
through this meeting was its educational 
effect. 
Mr. H. S. Kealhofer of the Traffic De¬ 
partment of the Jacksonville Board of 
Trade has compiled extensive data relat¬ 
ing to these new rates, and is about to 
give this out to the press. It is an admir¬ 
able piece of work, and should be the 
means of settling definitely the question 
of the effects of the changes in express 
rates on the Florida industries. The get¬ 
ting together of this data has been the 
first step in connection with this express 
matter. 
I have spent considerable time in dis¬ 
cussing the few things that have been 
undertaken already. I want now to pre¬ 
sent for your consideration several mat- 
tres of greater importance upon which 
you will need to take action before the 
close of these meetings. This league be¬ 
longs to you growers and shippers. Your 
manager stands willing to follow your in¬ 
structions and to develop just the kind 
of an organization you want to have in 
the state-. Perhaps with the present fi¬ 
nances, or at least by increasing the as¬ 
sessment slightly we can carry on the 
league as it is now organized. From 
many sources, however, we are being 
urged to extend our activities in other 
directions. I want to mention two, both 
of them important. 
A TRAFFIC AND CLAIM DEPARTMENT. 
In the early organization work of last 
year, emphasis was laid on the fact that 
the league would have a traffic and claim 
department. Without doubt many indi¬ 
viduals who were not connected with 
the larger marketing organization in the 
