156 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
The distribution is the weakest part 
of the entire work. It has been so in 
the past and is likely to continue so for 
some time to come. 
Florida could produce vegtables 
enough to supply the whole continent 
at a profit to the producer and a ben¬ 
efit to the consumer. But under our 
old methods of shipping to central 
points and then reshipping to the 
smaller markets, loss of time occurs 
that makes the material stale and un¬ 
palatable before they get on the con¬ 
sumer’s table, except in' certain cases. 
The amount sold under this method is 
also limited. 
VEGETABLE GROWING IN FLORIDA 
R. A. Conkling, Fellsmere, Fla. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
At our last meeting held at Palatka, 
Professor Rolfs made the remark: “If 
you want to keep a good horticulturist 
away from, the meeting, put him on the 
program.” You see this could not ap¬ 
ply to me, for I make no pretensions 
of being a good horticulturist, but I 
am very anxious to be in that class. So 
I come here to learn, and, if you want 
to keep me away you must pursue a 
different course. 
My first visit to Florida was in the 
winter of 1888. In the spring of ’89 I 
moved here from Texas, bringing my 
family and all I possessed in the way 
of wealth, which was only enough to 
pay for a small place, and a very small 
amount for improvements. I managed 
to get two acres of land into a partial 
state of cultivation by the following 
fall and winter. I had nothing left to 
live on should I fail to “pull off a crop,” 
(a very unwise thing to do) as com¬ 
paratively few who come here without 
money and without experience do make 
a good crop the first season, and at that 
time it was more foolish than now, for 
there was no one able or willing to 
give intelligent advice to the beginner. 
At least there was not at the point 
where I decided to make my home, 
which was in Brevard County, on the 
banks of the beautiful Indian River, 
three miles south of the now beauti¬ 
ful and thriving town of Melbourne. 
You are wondering what all this has 
to do with the subject under discussion, 
viz: Vegetables in Florida. Well, all I 
know about vegetables is from experi¬ 
ence gathered on that little place, and 
when I tell you about that place you 
will agree with me—if I succeeded in 
living from the profits made from veg¬ 
etables on a place such as it was in 
its original state—that vegetables in 
Florida are a success. It consisted main¬ 
ly of a high ridge with stunted pines, 
scrubby saw palmettoes and a scanty 
growth of wire grass, sloping off to 
east and west to a swail of gall berry 
and myrtle, with hardpan in twelve 
inches of surface. 
I was told soon after buying the 
