36 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
body seems to take hold and meet us half 
way in the work we are conducting. He 
mentioned in his paper that the process of 
fumigation is but little understood in this 
State. There should be a good many 
men in Florida who understand fumiga¬ 
tion, whether it is generally adopted 
by the State or not. Last winter 
I had two calls for men to take 
charge of fumigating work. I knew of 
only one man to whom I could give an 
unhesitating recommendation. I hesi¬ 
tated to give him a recommendation for 
the reason that he came down from Mas¬ 
sachusetts to stay two or three months 
and then go back, but the person was so 
insistent that I gave the young man a 
recommendation and he took charge of 
the work. As soon as it was done he 
went back to Massachusetts. I doubt if 
he will come to Florida again. 
Two or three days ago, two people 
wanted me to recommend a man to take 
charge of the spraying of several large 
groves. I did not know of anybody to 
recommend. If a short course was given 
at the University, I think we would have 
plenty of material from which to select 
men to take charge of this kind of work. 
Mr. Connor: I know that what Prof. 
Yothers has just remarked in connection 
with fumigation is absolutely true. There 
are various places in Florida where fumi¬ 
gation outfits have been supplied for use 
in the groves, and the reason why fumi¬ 
gation is not applied is because a compe¬ 
tent man cannot be found to handle the 
outfit. Use of fumigation is rather an 
important proposition, from the growers' 
standpoint. Unless properly applied, 
great injury may result to the trees, and 
little damage may result to the insects. 
Personally, I know of but one grove that 
has been successfully treated for white- 
fly in the State of Florida, and that hap¬ 
pens to be a little grove of my own, and 
that has been treated by spraying with 
insecticide at the proper time. Only two 
treatments in two years, following up 
with fumigation at the season when the 
whitefly is more easily affected by fumi¬ 
gation, and more thoroughly eradicated 
than at any other time. The second year, 
treating with the application of hydro¬ 
cyanic acid gas. I do not believe an en¬ 
tomologist would find a whitefly in half 
a day’s search. I followed it up with 
just as thorough a treatment last winter. 
The results have been most gratifying, 
not only from the insecticide, but from 
the use of fumigation as well. The fer¬ 
tilizer expense has been cut down to less 
than half, and that is the only grove in 
the neighborhood that has held its full 
crop of fruit, and that is due, of course, 
to the eradication of the insects. I would 
like as many people as possible to see that 
grove, so that they could realize that all 
the talk about not being able to handle 
the whitefly is but “poppy-cock”—if the 
application is made in the proper way. 
The whitefly is actually po more impor¬ 
tant than any other insect. Whitefly is 
not half as bad as you think it is, if you 
take hold right and get in touch with the 
people who know how to fight it. Fumi¬ 
gation, in connection with a good insecti¬ 
cide, applied at the proper season, is the 
best method I know of. 
Mr. Thompson: In regard to the sug¬ 
gestion of taking a special course at the 
University, I think it is a wise one. We 
have a Protective League at Florence 
Villa that decided last winter to fumigate. 
