194 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
it already exists, and 1 preventable in 
groves not yet attacked and especially to 
determine authoritatively, if it is contag¬ 
ious. 
When this preliminary work is _done 
so as to give definite and authoritative 
basis to work upon, we will then invoke, 
through this State to carry into effect any 
precautionary or suppressive mease r ' 
that the Department of Agriculture may 
suggest for the extermination of this dis¬ 
ease. 
It may be possible the Department of 
Agriculture cannot take up this much 
needed work without a specific appropria¬ 
tion for the purpose. If this is true, we 
urge you to use every legitimate effort to 
have such appropriation placed in some of 
the pending bills now before this Con¬ 
gress, so that this work may start at the 
earliest possible date. 
In urging the consideration of our ap¬ 
peal for aid in this difficulty ; we respect¬ 
fully call attention to' the fact that some 
fifteen years ago- the orange industry sus¬ 
tained a crushing calamity that for the 
time amounted to the total destruction, 
when it was generally believed that the 
orange industry in Florida was perman¬ 
ently destroyed and would never again 
become a paying enterprise. While this 
calamity was State-wide, falling on. the 
rich and poor alike, and deserved to be 
classed with other “visitations of God,” as 
floods, conflagrations and earthquakes, 
that invariably call forth the sympathy 
and bounteous contributions not only of 
the charitable individuals and societies, 
but the generous and substantial find c A 
aid of the Government at Washington, it 
is a matter of pride to the people of Flor¬ 
ida that they never appealed to the citi¬ 
zens nor the Government for anything but 
sympathy, and even that appeal was si¬ 
lent and unspoken. Thousands of men, 
who had been reduced from moderate fi- 
uanlcial independence to beggary in aj 
single night, by an overwhelming disaster 
that no effort or foresight on their part 
could avert or alleviate patiently and 
uncomplainingly went to work to renew 
again their groves and bring prosperity 
again to* an industry that is rapidly build¬ 
ing up the waste places and adding several 
millions of dollars, as well as many thou¬ 
sand's of settlers to the State; which is 
rapidly taking rank and influence among 
the States in the production of world-wide 
necessities, as well as the luxuries of life. 
Such moderate aid as we now ask has 
been generously extended to California in 
the propagation of the fig and orange in¬ 
dustry and other States in the protection 
of peach orchards from destruction 
through contagious diseases that could 
not be controlled by individual effort, 
which, when backed by the police p wer c 
these industries and added immensely to 
the taxable values, and also to the peace 
of these States, has brought prosperity to 
and prosperity of the State. 
