206 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
certified, for the purpose of verifying 
that all conditions have been, or are 
being, fulfilled; and to annul the cer¬ 
tificate if the conditions in the nursery 
prove unsatisfactory, or if any require¬ 
ments upon which the certificate is 
conditioned are violated. 
N. B.—The purpose of Rule i is not 
to encourage nurserymen to be less 
careful in keeping out whitefly, scales, 
etc.; for a badly infested nursery will 
not be certified under any conditions. 
E. W. Berger. 
Entomologist to Florida Agricultural 
Experiment Station, Gainesville. 
In conclusion, the present inspector 
can in no sense be considered a state 
official, and inspections have been 
carried on by the Experiment Station 
solely to meet the exigencies of nurs¬ 
erymen doing business with other 
states and with foreign countries. 
THE GROWER'S SIDE. 
C. B. Thornton. 
Mr. President } Ladies and Gentlemen: 
As a member of the Committee on 
Nursery Inspection would say: In my 
opinion, the only measure to insure jus¬ 
tice to all, is a State law, so framed that 
all nurserymen in Florida large or small, 
selling trees in the State, especially citrus 
trees, are compelled to have a certificate 
duly attested, from a State officer, com¬ 
petent to judge, stating the absolute con¬ 
dition of the trees offered for sale and' 
this done often enough to give security to 
the buyer. This is a drastic remedy but 
in no other way can positive security be 
given the buyer nor an impartiality hin¬ 
dered between the different nurserymen. 
As a prominent nurseryman writes me: 
‘‘How much good will it do you if I sell 
a lot of nursery trees to you, duly in¬ 
spected, passed, and finally to make sure, 
fumigated and your neighbor “J”—, 
going to a little out of the way nursery, 
buys a lot of trees infested with scale, 
mealy bug, white fly and all other ills? 
How long will your trees stand in their 
neighborhood without becoming in¬ 
fested? At present nursery inspection is 
simply of no value to Florida and with 
the exception of out of the State and 
West Indian business, it does not amount 
to a row of pins.” This is from an 
experienced, successful nurservman. Un¬ 
less a severe State measure is passed, all 
that should be required 1 of a Florida nur¬ 
seryman is, that lie has his stock free 
from white fly and mealy bug. These two 
are the most dreaded and justly so. Un¬ 
less radical measures are taken at once, 
the white fly will be prevalent in all 
citrus growing parts of the State as the 
common purple or long scale is at present 
and this in spite of all sprays, fumiga¬ 
tions, fungus or other preventatives. 
