Arizona republican., 1910-06-10

chard It was the understanding of the commission that the trees were to be planted in the desert where danger of injecting other trees would be re- duced Fleming read a copy of tel egram written by Dr. Morrill, for him to send to the nurserymen at Winter haven, Fla, whence the trees came It was stated in the telegram that the trees were to be planted in the desert in quarantine. Foster Rockwell, mem- Der of the horticultural commission, inquired if the telegram read was the one sent.
 Tt is almost identical" replied Fleming. It was then brought out that the words in the desert" were omitted in the wire sent to the nur- sery and Fleming explained that it would have been impossible to plant the trees in the desert for lack of wa ter.
 After stating his case Fleming was asked a number of questions and sev- eral new points brought out by them. w. J. Murphy inquired. Had a part of the shipment been released by the entomOlogist?'
 Answer: No release was given me. part had been inspected and some deliveries made. One small shipment of 25 trees to Horn and Armstrong was brought back again"
 Question: Who got the other de- liveries that were not brought back?"
 Answer: T don't know"
 Question, by Prof Forbes: Was an agreement made between you and pr. Morrill?"
 Answer: Tt was in process of mak- ing. Dr. Morrill, told me he had the consent of the commission"
 Dr. Morrill, was then given an Op- portunity of explaining his under standing of the agreement When l found seven boxes of the shipment in fected,'' he said, 'I told MT. Fleming that I could not release the shipment. Several days later he asked permis- sion to plant the trees in the desert. said I would take the matter up with the commission to see if we could save him from possible loss To save time he started in to cut down the trees to have them ready should the commis- sion agree to the plan. Then I discov- cred that he had gone ahead and was planting the trees in his grove. l con suited a lawyer and told Mir. Fleming that an injunction could be brought against him for planting the trees con trary to the terms of the temporary agreement. That night the trees dis appeared and then I consulted Acting Governor Young who advised me to see the attorney general, which did. The law defines infested trees as a public nuisance and we acted on that. The growers of this valley need not fear for a moment that we will enter their groves and attack their trees without substantial warrant"
 Andrew Kimball the Graham coun ,ty member of the commission. told the story of deciduous pest in that cOun- ty and the havoc it has wrought in two years He brought specimens of the pest with him-the wooly aphis, a plant lOuse that has devastated ap- pie orchards till it has practically de stroyed the industry in Graham cOun- ty He said that two years before there were but few trees infested with the lice and that it could easily have been exterminated had the farmers only known how deadly it was. Nov, entire groves will have to be up rooted to get rid of the insect He spoke of the weevil that is attacking the alfalfa in the Rocky mountains and said he hoped for an amendment to the present law giving the commis- sion the right to act in the case of az ricultural pests as we'll as hOrticul- tural. He made a strong plea for the destruction of pests of any kind when they first appear in a district even though it involves personal loss.
 A general discussion followed which at times grew a little tedious. Dr. Morrill, was asked if he destroyed the Fleming trees to uphold the law or be- cause they were a menace to the com There was so much circum- locution in his reply that Attorney General Wright answered for him. saving that they were destroyed be- cause they were menace. The meet ing lasted nearly three hours but it ended amicably. It is probable that in the future there will be a little better judgment used in the enforcement of the horticultural law and a greater on the part of the growers te submit to it's provisions.
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