"Whatever success I have been permitted to achieve as the 

 result of my labors, are gains to the world and to civilization ; 

 they are new creations, evolved from nothing; their original 

 parents being simply weeds, in the eyes of the refined admirer 

 of beautiful flowers. And like the product of the miner's toil, 

 they are drafts upon the great treasure house of Nature, 

 wronging and robbing no one ; unlike the results of speculative 

 competition, those mere exchanges of wealth too often be- 

 sprinkled with the tears of the widow and the orphan, or even 

 the successes of legitimate commerce, seldom attained without 

 grinding competition, involving the very life-blood of strug- 

 gling man." 



H. H. GROFF, before Provincial Association. 



J. Jt jt jt Vt 



Buffalo, Sept. 25th, 1901. 



"I have been an interested observer of the work of Mr. Groff 

 •during the past ten years, and it is particularly worthy of com- 

 mendation. His display of hybrid Gladioli at Buffalo is won- 

 derful, and it is safe to say that the named varieties of five years 

 ago sink into insignificance when placed alongside of his seed- 

 lings. Mr. Groff's Gladiolus exhibit is worth a visit to the Pan- 

 American. It is at once an object lesson and an inspiration." 



—PROF. JOHN CRAIG. 



Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 



^* 



"Limitations once thought to be real have proved to be only 

 apparent barriers; and as in any of the dark problems of 

 nature, the mental light of many ardent, persevering, faithful 

 workers will make the old paths clear, and boundless new ones 

 will appear by which the life-forces are guided into endless, 

 useful, and beautiful forms." — BURBANK. 



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