FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
149 
May the example he set cause others to 
follow his footsteps. 
C. M. GRIFFING 
Mr. Griffing died at his home in Jack¬ 
sonville on September 23, 1916. He 
would have been forty-five years old on 
the 10th of October. Born in New 
York, Mr. Griffing removed to Florida 
while yet a young boy. It was necessary 
for him to make his own way in the 
world, and he was not long in establish¬ 
ing the reputation for industry and ap¬ 
plication that was characteristic of his 
whole life. 
Before he had been in the State very 
long, Mr. Griffing secured a position with 
a nursery concern. After a few years he 
started in this business, with one or more 
of his brothers, under the firm name of 
Griffing Brothers. From a very modest 
beginning, the big establishment at Mac- 
clenny developed, and was later supple¬ 
mented by plants at Grand Bay, Alabama; 
Fort Arthur and McAllen, Texas; and 
two or three branches at Florida points. 
Just at the time that the long years of 
hard work on the part of himself and 
brothers seemed to have had such re¬ 
sults as to assure the future of the great 
business that they had built up, citrus 
canker was introduced into their nurs¬ 
eries. The story of the unfortunate out¬ 
come of this matter is too fresh in the 
minds of Florida to need recital. There 
were many angles to the situation, in 
some of which his friends felt that C. M. 
Griffing was much misunderstood and un¬ 
justly blamed. Bravely he set about to 
rebuild his shattered fortunes, and was 
well on the way to another success when 
death claimed him. 
To all of those who knew him inti¬ 
mately the death of Mr. Griffing came as a 
severe shock. His clean life, progressive 
spirit and determined character had great¬ 
ly endeared him to a wide circle of ac¬ 
quaintances. His association with the 
Florida State Horticultural Society and 
service to it is a matter of record, which 
shows that he was faithful to all the 
trusts reposed in him by the organization. 
EDWARD K. HARRIS 
Edward K. Harris, son of James Har¬ 
ris, merchant and banker of Boston, was 
born in that city in 1835. He was edu¬ 
cated at the Norwich Military Academy 
in Vermont and later at the famous Uni¬ 
versity of Heidelburg in Germany. He 
spent the earlier part of his life in travel 
both in the United States and in Europe. 
He lived for many years in Germany and 
in France, where he became thoroughly 
familiar with the life and language of 
both countries. During the war of 1870 
he carried dispatches between London and 
Paris, saw the entrance of the Prussian 
army into Paris, and witnessed many stir¬ 
ring scenes of the Commune there. 
When Mr. Harris returned to settle 
definitely in his own country, he became 
keenly interested in agriculture, and he 
bought an island in Penobscot Bay on the 
Maine coast and an orange grove on the 
St. Johns river in Florida, where he ex¬ 
perimented in farming during the sum¬ 
mer and in orange growing during the 
winter. Observations made during his 
travels gave him many ideas on the sub¬ 
ject which he had an opportunity to put 
