108 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
plete destruction from the San Jose Scale, 
and I feel sure that the orange industry 
will be saved thousands of dollars from 
the ravages of the orange Scale as soon 
as it is learned that these same fungi will 
eradicate the orange Scale. Besides, 
they will yet deliver us from the ravages 
of the white fly. 
DISCUSSION. 
Mr. Hart—I want to again call at¬ 
tention to what I consider the most 
serious matter of all. It seems to have 
been slighted and has been mentioned 
only once or twice in an incidental way 
in this convention. That is, blight of 
the orange trees. I consider that is 
the most serious disease we have to 
contend with, and it should be given 
first attention. This disease is so bad 
and so hard a problem that it seems 
our professional men shy around it 
and do not want to say anything about 
it. We wall have to hold them to it. 
It is to them that we look for relief, 
and without doubt they must give it 
to us, if we get it. But, as orange 
growers, we must help them. 
Professors Weber and Swingle came 
down here from Washington because 
of the action of this Society, and if it 
had not been for the freeze I think 
they would have accomplished valua¬ 
ble results. This disease never attacks 
a tree until it is seven years old, or 
older, and it requires expert study for 
years to work out the necessary ex¬ 
periments to locate the cause of the 
trouble. Our professional men must 
work the problem out for us. We, as 
individuals, cannot afford to put the 
time and study into it that it requires. 
Now. can’t we take some action right 
here and now that will bring about 
more effective work on that line ? 
Our president has worked on it, but 
he had a whole lot of other work to 
do that took up his time, and although 
he put good study into it, we have not 
got the results we hoped to have. We 
must do all we can to get hold of this 
question of blight, and find out what 
the remedy is. If it is going to take 
twenty years, let's begin this year and 
that will cut off one of the twenty. 
The government is ready to help us 
on anything that we need help on, but 
we must ask for it; we must make it 
known to those having these matters 
in charge that we need help, and then 
we will get it. 
It is perfectly astounding to me that 
year after year goes by, each season 
we dig out some of our most valuable 
trees spoiling the symmetry of our 
groves, yet little effort is made to find 
a remedy. It-certainly does a great 
amount of damage. The best trees 
we have will show blight, and then 
they are gone. All you can do is to 
dig them up, leaving great open spaces 
in your groves, and plant anew. It 
knocks off a third of the value of the 
grove if you wish to sell. The buyer 
won’t pay within a third of the value. 
Now, we have here those who have 
suffered with blight and those who are 
bound to suffer sooner or later. It 
seems to me that we should make an 
effort to get good work started on the 
matter, and we should begin where 
Weber and Swingle left off. 
Mr. Mote—I am not suffering with 
it very much, but I am interested in 
the subject. If Mr. Hart will offer a 
suggestion, I think this whole body 
will take it up. 
