OF SO UTHERN CALIFORNIA. 451 



portion of the State and the East. Fruit was present from San 

 Diego, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino Counties, but the upper part 

 of tlie State failed to respond. The display of fruits was made in the 

 public hall, and the meetings for discussion were held in the Odd 

 Fellows' hall in the same building, immediately over the public hall, 

 so that visitors could examine the fruits or listen to the discussion, as 

 best suited their pleasure. Both halls were full during a greater por- 

 tion of the fair. 



On Tuesday evening the exhibition was formally opened by H. J. 

 Rudisill, President. lie introduced L. E. Mosher, of Colton, who 

 delivered the following address of welcome: 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen: I had feared that the 

 attendance this evening would be seriously decreased because of a 

 statement made by your paper last Saturday, that I would read a 

 poem on this occasion; for I am aware that alleged poets are, in the 

 language of the street, "a holy terror" to many estimable people, and 

 that even the best poetry is not relished by the masses; that poets, 

 and especially those of the long-haired variety like myself, are a 

 thorn in the flesh of work-a-day people who grow barley or oranges 

 for a liveliliood, for they feel that no man has a right to fritter away 

 his days in a lotus dream of rhyme when there are so many broad 

 acres of outdoors waiting the visit of the plowshare and the belt of 

 the trusty lioe. Hence, for that and other reasons, as I have pre- 

 viously informed your esteemed committee, I have written no poem 

 for this evening. To tell you the truth, I don't profess to be much 

 of a poet on general principles, and no man ever yet insulted me by 

 saying that I cannot write poetry, for I heartily agree with him. Yet, 

 less than a year ago, I did consent to write some verses upon the occa- 

 sion of the dedication of tliis hall, but remembering that the good 

 people of Riverside had let me ofl" without a riot, and from the fact 

 that many of them are my esteemed and honored friends, I decided 

 not to try their patience further. 



But, on behalf of the fruit growers of Riverside and San Bernar- 

 dino County, I have been put forward to-night to extend a welcome 

 to the visitors to this second annual Citrus Fair. I suppose that I 

 have been selected for this duty because of my supreme ignorance on 

 the question of citrus, or any other kind of fruit growing, your com- 

 mittee fearing, perhaps, that did I know more of what I ought to 

 talk about, that I might cover all the ground, and leave notliing 

 further to be said. If that has been their aim, I can assure you that 

 they have made a center shot. Of course, when I go past a fruit 

 stand I know an orange when I see it, for I once lived in a country 

 where they grow osage oranges around all the farms, and I further 

 know how to descend into the luscious depths of a golden sphere, 

 and to draw from it nectar flt for a goddess; but whether or other- 

 wise the China lemon is best budded on the Rhode Island greening, 

 whether russet orange is a better variety than the Mediterranean 

 sour, whether the naval orange has the form of a gunboat or is rigged 

 like some of the men-of-war which patrol our proud river, are points 

 quite beyond me. The further questions of irrigation — high pressure 

 and low pressure— and whether land should be plowed bias, or cut 

 with gores across the front breadths and piped with cardinal gerani- 

 ums, are things that I do not consider my intellect muscular enough 

 to wrestle with; but I see about me men who can fairly hurl facts at 



