FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
221 
THE LICHEE 
Dr. Wm. F. Richardson, Tampa, Fla. 
I regret that we have not the time to 
hear Mr. Taylor's paper and discuss this 
very interesting subject more fully than 
we now seem to have the time to do. 
There are a good many things we have 
gone over somewhat hurriedly at this 
morning session, particularly to one 
thing that I think we should discuss 
more, and that was the report of the 
Committee on Ornamentals. I think 
that was one of the most valuable re¬ 
ports we have ever had, and I am sure 
we all enjoyed it. 
Speaking of ornamentals, the report 
of the Committee on Ornamentals was 
not the only ornamental thing we have 
had during this session. The canker 
situation has been ornamental and in¬ 
structive. We have had many orna¬ 
ments, and if you want to see some¬ 
thing that is useful as well as ornamen¬ 
tal, you have only to look at Mr. Ham- 
ner. 
Mr. Taylor, who prepared this paper 
on the Lichee, is what might be called 
an enthusiast. It takes enthusiasm to 
move the world. Enthusiasas have al¬ 
ways been the great factor in great 
movements that have been of utility to 
the world. Moses was an enthusiast ; 
Paul was an enthusiast. Coming down 
to our own time, Burbank and other 
men like him, are enthusiasts. 
I have no ambition to read papers, 
and I was very much disinclined to 
comply with Mr. Taylor’s request, but 
when you come to the Lichee, you touch 
a tender spot in my make-up, and I 
will read a paper or make a talk for 
Mr. Taylor or anyone else on this sub¬ 
ject. 
You may know about the Lichee. 
You may not know how to spell the 
word—I do not. Mr. Taylor-spells it 
one way, the Burfeau of Plant Industry 
at Washington spells it another, and 
the various people living in the coun¬ 
tries where the Lichee is raised, spell 
it another. 
We think the orange is the queen of 
fruits. It is not. The queen of fruits 
is the Lichte. 
It has been the impression that the 
Lichee is a tropical fruit, but it is raised 
in latitudes parallel to ours, and I am 
confident it can be raised in Florida, 
as it is raised on the eastern half of the 
globe where it is really further north 
than Florida. Mr. Taylor’s paper 
shows from reports that it grows as 
far north as latitude 30, and that it 
stands a temperature of about 20 de¬ 
grees in India. 
It is to the Chinaman what the peach 
is to us—and it is a peach, too, if you 
will pardon that expression. It is eaten 
out of the hand as it comes from the 
tree, and that is the best way to get 
it when it is fresh ; and then it is dried, 
as our peaches are dried, and then it 
