182 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
How to develop in the people an ef¬ 
fective social feeling" and at the same 
time to maintain the strength of person¬ 
ality and individuality, is the fundamental 
problem in civilization. It is necessary 
to the stability of any people that a large 
proportion of them own productive prop¬ 
erty from which they make a living and 
which renders them relatively indepen¬ 
dent of organization control, close group 
action and temporary enthusiasms. The 
man on the land stands on his own feet 
and not on any one’s else feet. He is the 
ultimate individualist, because his situa¬ 
tion represents a direct contact with the 
earth and because his business is his own. 
Florida strongly individualized in 
another way. Persons have come here to 
settle from many other states and coun¬ 
tries, all with their own ideas formed in 
advance. These ideas of individualism 
and separateness very largely dominate 
your population. The same is true in 
southern California. In the end, this 
should give you a very high and effective 
kind of independent development, al¬ 
though it may hinder for a time. One of 
the disadvantages is expressed at the 
present time in your horticulture, if I see 
it aright. You have brought your ideas 
as to what kinds of plants ought to grow 
in Florida and you have tried to grow 
them with more or less unsatisfactory re¬ 
sults. I am impressed with the fact that 
you have not yet arrived at your oppor¬ 
tunities in Florida, horticulturally. I am 
not speaking of citrus fruits but am think¬ 
ing of horticulture in the large sense, of 
the great variety of plants that will thrive 
well in this state when introduced and 
given the proper care. You have scarcely 
more than begun to develop the possibili¬ 
ties of ornamental work with plants and 
have not yet reached the limits of food 
plants that may be well grown in the state. 
About two generations are required for 
persons to forget the old conditions and 
to adapt themselves completely to a new 
country and .to make the most of its natur¬ 
al resources. In California and other 
semi-arid parts, it required a long time to 
give up, at least in part, the idea of 
smoothly shaven green lawns and to de¬ 
velop gardening on the basis of the old 
Spanish method, with the appropriation 
of the kind of landscape that is a part of 
the country itself. 
One does not hear much now-a-days 
about the disastrous droughts of Nebraska 
and adjacent regions. My older auditors 
will know that the droughts of that re¬ 
gion were supposed to be insurmountable 
and that eventually persons could not 
undertake farming there successfully. 
People were trying to adapt their eastern 
ideas to Nebraska conditions, and natur¬ 
ally they failed of the best results. Now 
that they have determined how best to 
adapt the crop scheme, tillage and the 
other operations to the natural conditions, 
they are making good progress. 
So I think that you have not yet come 
in Florida to the point of developing your 
plant resources to their fullest possibili¬ 
ties. You are in an epoch of vast enter¬ 
prises. Relatively small areas will be 
more worth while as time goes on. You 
will also come to a new realization of the 
satisfaction in personal work with plants. 
It is the kind of appreciation we have for 
a good building rather than for a city. 
You have certain serious difficulties. 
