FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
23 
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF TRADE 
Mr. Howell A. Davis 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
The program announces that the 
welcome from the Board of Trade was 
to come from Mr. Selden, our presi¬ 
dent, but as he is absent that pleasant 
duty has been placed upon me. I con¬ 
fess, however, that under hasty circum¬ 
stances, having the day only to frame 
the words of welcome L am to speak, I 
come before you with some hesitation. 
Naturally I am proud of Palatka, 
and you will not censure me if I tell 
those who may not be familiar with it, 
that it is a mighty good town; that it 
has more miles of brick street paving 
and concrete sidewalks than any other 
town in the state, if not in the South, 
as far as I know, of equal population; 
that it is at the head of deep water 
navigation on the St. Johns river, and 
accordingly gets lower freight rates 
than inland towns; that the only wagon 
bridge across Florida’s greatest river 
is here; that we have six steamer lines 
and four different railroad systems; 
that it is in the chief artesian well dis¬ 
trict in the state, with pressure to carry 
water 25 feet above the surface; that in 
its territory is the leading winter grown 
Irish potato section of the state; that 
we grow corn and many other things; 
that the only cultivated camphor plan¬ 
tation in the United States is in our 
county, and it’s a sight worth seeing, 
and it made 10,000 pounds of camphor 
last winter; that we have the largest 
cypress saw mill in the South, and ships 
from Atlantic Coast ports are here reg¬ 
ularly; we have the largest door fac¬ 
tory in the South; the only cedar pail 
and lard and tobacco bucket factory in 
the state; the only dynamite factory; a 
large fertilizer plant; the largest han¬ 
dlers of orange box material in the 
state, distributing over a million boxes 
last season, one-sixth of the entire num¬ 
ber used in the state; and our county “ 
produces as fine oranges and grapefruit 
as any in the state, over 200,000 boxes 
last year; the largest exclusive paper 
and stationery house in the state; a 
wholesale drug house, besides several 
wholesale grocery houses; the largest 
mail order seed house in the state; we 
have three newspapers, none better in 
the state, and one of them a daily, 
with extras on the street when there’s 
news worth telling; a successful busi¬ 
ness college; our fraternal spirit is seen 
in every form of lodge and society, 
and altogether we feel that we are en¬ 
titled to a place on the map. And as 
more than an incident, I do not wish to 
overlook the fact that we have one of 
the most active Boards of Trade in 
the state, and visitors are most cordial¬ 
ly invited to visit our rooms, and.1 hope 
the members of this society may take a 
look in while they are here. 
Palatka is my home, I was born here, 
and I feel its welfare as sincerely as I 
do my own. I want you to feel at 
