FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
193 
By E. H. Mote. 
Hon.- 
Washington, D. C.: 
Dear Sir—As our representative in the 
councils o'f our government, we wish to 
call your serious attention to the following 
preambles and resolutions, assuring you it 
is a matter of the utmost importance to all 
growers of the Citrus fruits in Florida, 
which is one, if not the most important in¬ 
dustries in the district you represent in 
Congress: 
Whereas, The orange growers of 
Florida are annually suffering the loss of 
many thousands of dollars in the reduc¬ 
tion of their fruit crop and still more in 
the market value of their groves through 
a disease knows as orange tree blight, 
which usually selects the largest and 
most productive tree for the attack; and 
Whereas, Though the disease has been 
carefully studied for many years by very 
able department experts, it is not yet 
well enough known to allow of its posi¬ 
tive identification, in many cases, before 
the second or third year after its appear¬ 
ance, while investigations pretty surely 
prove that the disease is contagious, which 
mlakes eadh diseased tree a nucleus from: 
which it is carried to others when caring 
for or working the grove; and 
Whereas, Progress has been made 
that encourages the belief that if addition¬ 
al help with special fitness can be sent here 
and allowed to devote their whole time 
assisting in this select work, we have rea¬ 
son to hope that the cause may be found 
for it; therefore be it 
Resolved, That the secretary of this 
society be instructed to correspond with 
the Florida representatives in Washing¬ 
ton and earnestly request them to call 
upon the Secretary of Agriculture, Hon. 
Wilson, and urge upon him the impor¬ 
tance of this work and the pressing need 
that we feel for further assis¬ 
tance from his department be it further 
Resolved, That each member of this 
society exert his or her influence as an in¬ 
dividual to secure increased appropriation 
for this work and its more vigorous prose¬ 
cution.” 
We wish to say further, relative to 
above actions of the Florida State Horti¬ 
cultural Society that this society, being 
composed largely of people who are ex¬ 
clusively engaged in cultivating the cit¬ 
rus fruits, have become alarmed at the 
persistence with which this new menace to 
our groves, defies our individual efforts 
to find a remedy that will check its further 
spread into- new territory, and finally 
eradicate it entirely. We are of the be¬ 
lief that this cannot be done by individual 
effort, owing primarily, to* the lack of au¬ 
thority of die individuals to push inquiry 
on the premises of those whose groves are 
affected, which is apt to be resented as a 
probable loss of value in grove property. 
We feel that we should move cautiously 
in the matter, so as not to bring unneces¬ 
sary hardship on the unfortunate grower, 
unless it be absolutely necessary to do so 
in the interest of the State at large. This 
action should properly be taken up' by the 
department of agriculture, competent 
experts should be sent here with authority 
to investigate exhaustively, the origin of 
this disease, whether it is curable where 
