12 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
bers of this Society, let me urge upon you 
the vital necessity of going forth armed 
with the tools of tillage to help our Coun¬ 
try in the task she has taken up. In a 
very personal way each of us must go 
forth to war. 
Much has been said about the Agricul¬ 
tural and Horticultural resources and pos¬ 
sibilities of our State, and we are agreed 
that they are both rich and varied. Ca¬ 
lamities have been visited upon industries 
developed on these resources, and yet, how 
quickly have the effects of these been 
effaced, and how quickly have we resumed 
our every day order of existence. Yet 
with it all we have, in so many ways, 
fallen short of the full development of 
these resources, and how far short we 
have come of that independence which 
the development of our resources might 
give us. We are so dependent upon other 
sections of our country for food stuffs for 
man and beast that any interruption of 
our ways of existence may entail suffering 
upon us. Nay! want may be at our doors. 
Let me illustrate this point further. Last 
winter, North Florida was threatened 
with a salt famine. Not that there was 
not plenty of salt in the country, but diffi¬ 
culties in transportation had interfered 
with the forwarding of supplies to such 
an extent that for a time jobbers in Jack¬ 
sonville would not agree to furnish more 
than ten sacks to any one merchant. Now, 
it is very likely that our railroad facilities 
for transportation may be taxed to their 
limits in the near future, coastwise ship¬ 
ping may be affected and what happened 
in the case of salt may happen with a mul¬ 
titude of things that we use on our tables 
or feed to our hogs, cattle and mules or 
horses. There have always been good and 
sufficient reasons why we should produce 
more largely of what we consume but 
never were these reasons so backed up by 
the actual necessities of the case. It is 
indeed a condition by which we are faced 
and not a theory. It becomes imperative 
that every piece of cleared and tillable 
land in country, village, town and city 
throughout Florida should be utilized to 
the fullest extent. No spot is too small 
to be neglected and none too large to be 
left out of consideration. One crop should 
succeed another and the land used for 
high pressure farming. In every way 
possible we must increase the production 
of supplies for our own tables, and feeds 
for our own animals. 
Moreover the time has come when we 
must give consideration to another phase 
of the problem. Labor has always been 
fairly easy to secure in Florida. It is so 
still, but there is a very strong probability 
that a change may come in this direction. 
If large numbers of men are withdrawn 
for service in the Army or in the Navy 
or in the factory or for construction work, 
we are bound to be affected and it then 
becomes necessary for us to take up the 
burden with our own hands in a way that 
some have not heretofore done, in some 
time at least. And in this work the boys 
and girls, the women and those unfit for 
field service must do their part. It means 
the enlistment for service of every avail¬ 
able labor force in the country. We must 
very closely approximate, what has at 
times been urged as a true basis for social 
and economic service, “He who does not 
labor, shall not eat”—every one must be¬ 
come a producer. 
