Report of Standing Committee on Ornamentals. 
BY MRS. GEO S. GATES. 
Mr. President^ Ladies and Gentlemen: 
Those of us who have borne the heat 
and burden of the day, those of us who 
have been twenty years in Florida, and 
are thus entitled to the name of “Old 
Settler,” are beginning to rejoice because 
of the real prosperity that is everywhere 
showing up over our fair State—at last 
the time has come when we also have 
green lawns, ornamental grounds and 
good roads. 
These years of experience have taught 
us valuable lessons, these lessons are tab¬ 
ulated and crystalized into records and 
into great nurseries of thrifty stock, avail¬ 
able for all kind of horticultural purposes. 
So now, the wayfaring man, though a 
“Yankee,” need not err. We are greatly 
indebted to the State Horticultural Socie¬ 
ty for a large mass of these records, and 
we should all more earnestly work for a 
broader field of usefulness for this society. 
For from the soil must ever come the 
sound, healthy prosperity of any State. 
As the spring is with us still, we must 
express the joy we have felt from her 
very first appearance, in the fragrant 
buds of the Yellow Jessamine, to the 
present pageant now waving about us in 
the waxy bloom of the great Magnolia. 
We have secured much pleasure by avail¬ 
ing ourselves of the simple plants within 
eas}^ reach. In December we secured 
many roots of the Yellow Jessamine— 
planted some about old stumps and some 
on posts, and it is perfect for old fences 
and arbors. By March, we had some 
bloom, and the second year, with care 
and fertilizer a mass of new growth and 
blossoms—and I know no miser ever had 
more joy with his gold, than we, with our 
mass of golden fragrant bloom. 
The wild plum is the next to bloom— 
about the middle of February. It does 
not bring a few blossoms, here and there, 
but great wreaths, bunches and banks of 
snowy bloom. One can go out and cut 
great armfulls of feathery blossoms, and 
fill the house with the very spirit of 
spring—and one is exalted with that 
spirit as they pass and repass; those great 
gnarled branches, that speak of greater 
life and peace and hope—crowd halls and 
dark corners with these fleeting joys. 
The gentle Japanese make the Cherry 
blossom time the happiest festival of the 
year. So do all lovers of nature—the pear 
tree is a marvel just after the plum, and so 
full of blossoms are all fruit trees, that I 
feel sure, Nature means that we are to 
enjoy her blooms, as well as her fruits— 
she is never stingy—if you ever dare think 
it of her, look at the spring-time blos¬ 
soms; and learn there the wonderful les¬ 
son of the large, full glorious develop¬ 
ment that is certainly in common with all 
Nature. Let me plead for the arrange¬ 
ment of blossoms when we bring them 
indoors—for the busy housewife gets the 
most of her enjoyment from her cut flow¬ 
ers. Don’t crowd several kinds in the 
