The morning call., 1895-02-12
WHAT HIS BOARD Is DOING.
Members Get No Salary but Work for
the State Free.
ORCHARDS SAVED FROM DESTRUCTION.
Remedies for Pests and Diseases DiScOV.
cred by the Board Protect the
Farmers.

The State Board of Horticultural Com
missioners are exercised over the propo-
sition to abolish all State commissions.
They claim that it is question of great i'm
portance to California so far as their board
is concerned.
L. W. Buck, vice-president of the board
and Commissioner for the Napa district,
was in town yesterday and protested
against abolishing the commission.
1T has been stated said he, ''that the
! Commissioners do little more than draw
their salaries. That is a mistake, for no
member of the Horticultural Commission
receives a salary. The secretary, Mr. Le-
long can state what the bureau has done
and is now doing for the fruit interests OF
California. We have nine Commissioners,
who have entire management of affairs of
the board. But they receive no compensa-
ton whatever, and besides giving their SER
vices gratis to the State they cause expert
ments to be conducted in their own
orchards The salaried offices consist of a
secretary, quarantine officer and clerk, who
receive in all about $1,000 year and hold
their positions at the pleasure of the
board"
Secretary Lelong went into details at
about sc, 900 communications of all kinds
are sent out of this office every year in
reply to letters asking for information on
every branch of horticulture from farmers.
Part of them come from foreign countries
and Eastern States, colleges and schools of
agriculture. We are constantly receiving
from various parts of the State boxes of
specimens of fruits to be named or identi-
fed according to variety, boxes and bundles
Nf Il ca6 nd re 10 ha aYa
Fruit-growers want to know the nature of
the disease, and after we diagnose it we
give them remedies.
"The remedies at hand and discovered
by the board have kept diseases in check
so as to make fruit-growing possible and
profitable. In order to prevent the intro
duction of fruit pests and diseases into
California we have two inspectors to watch
all importations. Last year over 400 ship
ments were inspected in San Francisco,
and of this lot 156 were found to con-
tain plants infected with disease. They
were destroyed. If they got into the State
the result would be a tendency to destrUc-
ton of the fruit industry, for the trees
condemned numbered several thousand.
Two carloads of oranges from Lower Cali
fornia, infected with diease not known
in this State, were destroyed by our quar-
antine officer when they reached this city.
Besides this work experiments are con-
Quoted throughout the State in fighting
fruit pests and diseases. Results of these
operations are given out in bulletins from
| time to time.
''If man goes into the orchard business
we examine trees for him and determine if
they are adapted to the soil and profitable.
This gives him more confidence to go into
the business. We know of many orchards
that would not have been bought or sold
but for our victory over the pests. The
board hassimported beneficial insects from
foreign countries that preserve orchards
from pests. Our monthly meetings are
forums where fruit men can discuss inter
esting subjects.
THE appropriation is $4,000 year, but
we always manage to turn something back
into the State Treasury. We sent out last
year over million of ladybugs from our
Santa Barbara station, and burned up 325,
600 diseased young trees from Hawaii.
We have the best system of quarantine
laws in the world, and without them two
years from now it would cost millions to
put California where she is to-day in her
| fruit interests"