FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
We got everything all ready, but could 
not find a single man to put in charge. 
Finally a man was put in charge, and I 
judge it was the man from Massachu¬ 
setts Mr. Yothers spoke of—I don’t 
know. He went up and took a week or 
ten days’ instructions, and came to our 
place and took charge of the work. There 
was a loss of time right there, and that 
was against our interest and much in 
favor of the insects. We had a very early 
spring, and before we had done the fumi¬ 
gating we had intended to do, the new 
growth had come out, the trees were in 
bloom, and we will have to take it up an¬ 
other year. 
Mr. Yothers: I am more or less fa¬ 
miliar with that work at Florence Villa, 
and certainly do not blame the man who 
took charge of it, because he rushed the 
thing as much as possible, but you cannot 
fumigate when the wind blows, and, if 
you remember, the wind blew a good 
deal at that time. I think the young man 
did very well, because when he left the 
State of Florida, he went back to his 
home to have an operation. He carried 
on the work with those people when he 
was not physically able. 
I think the great trouble down there 
was lack of supplies that could not be had 
early in the season. I cautioned them that 
the work should be started by the first of 
September, but there seemed to be trou¬ 
ble about getting supplies, and, as you 
say, there was no man to take charge of 
the work. 
Mr. Thompson: I am not complaining 
about the young man who came down. 
He took hold of the work and pushed it 
with energy, and we were all pleased with 
what he did. We had no fault to find 
S 7 
with the man, but I was calling attention 
to the fact that we could not find a single 
man to take charge of the work at the 
moment when we wanted him. 
Dr. Richardson: It seems to me that 
we are reaching a very important stage 
in our University work, judging from the 
opinions expressed by the gentleman who 
read the paper. This is a utilitarian age. 
This is an age in which men are not study¬ 
ing abstract sciences for mere amusement 
and edification, but along the lines that 
will give practical and beneficial results, 
and it seems Dr. Berger has hit the nail 
on the head when he suggests that the 
University give a course along the lines 
that will be of benefit to the grower. 
I want to say in the presence of this 
society, that all the horticultural people 
all over the State will stand back of 
Dr. Berger when any work of that kind 
is undertaken. It is well to have these 
gentlemen to take charge of what in Ger¬ 
many they call germs, in France they call 
paris-sites, and in Ireland they call 
mi(ke)crobes—hunt them up, find them, 
and then destroy them. To us who are 
interested in the work, we must be taught 
how to destroy them. We have proved 
that we know how to find these pests; 
now give us a course in the destruction of 
them, the elimination of them. That is 
what we are ready to stand up for and 
support you in every way we can. Give 
us a corps of trained men so that when 
we need one for our insect-infested 
groves, fumigated or inspected, we can 
telegraph for one and have him sent on 
the next train, with paraphernalia all 
ready to begin work. When we need a 
lawyer, we can get one, and when we 
need a physician, we can get one; why 
