President's Annual Address. 29 



What we have hoped to do was to bring together a great variety of vege- 

 table products from the most distant countries and the most diverse ch- 

 mates, and show them side by side, for their beauty so far as we could pre- 

 serve it, but especially for their instructive interest to the student of botany 

 or of the woi'ld's industrial resources. We have not hoped to present you a 

 conservatory iilled with all the bewildering luxuriance of tropic bloom and 

 beauty, such as you will see where a generation of care has been given to 

 the development of each delicate and exacting plant. A tropical garden, a 

 perfect lawn, a complete and finished park, can not be made in three months. 



But we have collected some very valuable plant exhibits. We can show 

 you over forty varieties of palms, some of them forty feet in height, and 

 still holding a portion of the burden of fruit which began to grow in the 

 summer islands of Florida. We can show royal palms, which six weeks 

 since helped to fringe with their delicate fronds the tropic shores of Mexico. 

 We offer you a very valuable collection of plants from the Botanic Garden 

 of Jamaica, and we invite your inspection of the magnificent collection of 

 plants and trees, embracing over 700 species, which constitute the California 

 tree exhibit. The very extensive exhibits of cacti from Texas and Mexico 

 are attracting great and deserved attention. In fact, we have many exhibits 

 in this division which will reward your attention. I will mention two of 

 great interest which are not yet in condition to be appreciated. One is the 

 valuable and complete collection of American grape vines, scientifically 

 classified, which is the contribution of our esteemed horticultural friend 

 from Texas; the other is the magnificent exhibit of Dutch bulbs, which 

 have been planted in these grounds. When I tell you we have over 20,000 

 hyacinths in one bed, and that the entire planting of the enterprising house 

 which makes this display amounts to over 230,000 bulbs, you will agree with 

 me that no such an exhibit has probably ever before been made. 



Among our European exhibits the fine plantations of rhododendrons, one 

 from Belgium and one from France, promise us a grand display in due time ; 

 and the exhibits of cordon-trained fruit trees from France and England will 

 claim the scrutiny of amateurs and professional gardeners. 



Not the least important of the exhibits of this department are those in the 

 division of forestry, both living trees and specimens of timber. We have 

 over 8,000 specimens of forest, fruit and ornamental trees planted in this 

 park, embracing nearly every tree of value grown on the North American 

 Continent, from the little Tom Thumb arbor vitses, not much bigger than 

 your hat, to young specimens of those glorious forest giants — the pines, red- 

 woods and " big trees " which tower 300 feet in height over the ranges of Cal- 

 ifornia mountains. Our forestry exhibit is very valuable in the living trees 

 shown, and especially in the great wealth of timber specimens to be seen in 

 nearly all the State exhibits in the government building. No such an expo- 

 sition of the forest wealth of a nation was ever before made on earth. But 

 this is a wealth that is fast vanishing, and the lesson for every horticulturist 

 and student of political economy to learn here is this : That our own 



