26 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
dollars annually, all due to the attacks of 
insects and diseases, most of which are 
not natives, and which with proper care 
might have been kept out. 
Do we want more? Have all the in¬ 
jurious ones been introduced and have 
they gained a foothold? By no means. 
Let me say with all the emphasis I pos¬ 
sess, “There are insects in other lands, 
which our conditions exactly suit, and 
which if introduced would in the enor¬ 
mous damage they are capable of doing, 
make us forget the ravages of those we 
now have, serious though they may be.” • 
Do we want the Mediterranean fruit- 
fly, an insect now present in North Afri¬ 
ca, in Spain, in France, in Sicily, in 
South Africa, Australia, the Azores, 
Brazil, Hawaii, Bermuda and other parts 
of the world? An insect so general in 
its attacks that it infests egg plants, pep¬ 
pers, tomatoes, pumpkins, beans, or¬ 
anges, grapefruit, lemons, limes, kum- 
quats, figs, peaches, plums, mangoes, 
pineapples, loquats, avocados and guavas. 
In fact, it is very nearly, if not quite, 
true that it infests every fruit in which 
we are interested. In Spain, it is a safe 
rule to eat no fruit in the dark. Pick up 
a luscious peach or fig, beautiful outside, 
inside a putrid mass of maggots. And 
one box of Sicily lemons landed in Tam- 
pa or Key West might infest the whole 
State. Yes, even one infested fruit of 
any kind. That you may know this is no 
visionary statement let it be pointed out 
that Bermuda was infested by fruit ship¬ 
ped from the Mediterranean to New 
York. Owing to a storm the vessel was 
driven to the Bermuda Islands, where 
the cargo was unloaded. Every fruit 
crop in Bermuda has been infested since, 
and that was many years ago. Again 
this insect was introduced into Australia 
in oranges from Italy. It is regarded as 
one of the most serious j^ests in every 
country where it is established. Its con¬ 
trol is absolutely a hopeless undertaking, 
and judging from the way in which it is 
distributed it is able to establish itself and 
to work untold harm not only in Florida, 
but throughout the whole Southeastern 
States. 
Do we want the red scale of Spain? 
An insect which we have not and which 
is able to live on so many broad leaved 
evergreens that its control in this State 
would be a matter of extreme difficulty. 
In Spain orchards infested are in a most 
serious condition. 
Would we like the Morelos orange 
fruit worm or Mexican orange maggot? 
If we would there are plenty of them in 
Mexico. 
Do we want the Mango Weevil? It is 
in Hawaii and other countries, and it is 
quite capable of making the journey to 
Florida if given the chance to come in. 
Do we want the sugar cane borer or 
the Argentine ant? They are already 
established in Louisiana, and we can 
easily have them with us. 
We probably got the San Jose scale 
from Japan. There are a few more in¬ 
sects there that are able to add greatly 
to our present insect troubles. 
This enumeration of insect pests which 
may easily find their way into Florida 
might be greatly extended. Even in 
California and other States there are 
some we do not want, but enough has 
been said to emphasize the danger to 
