FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
25 
RESPONSE 
W. S. Hart 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
When the mail brought me notice 
from our worthy president advising 
me that I had been appointed to reply 
to the address of welcome of the pres¬ 
ident of the Board of Trade of this 
city, and saying “Don’t write ‘No’— 
that will do no good. Copy has already 
gone to printer.” I asked myself why 
he had done this thing, knowing near¬ 
ly as well as I do, my entire lack of 
qualifications of an orator and most else 
that would fit me for the task, except 
an abiding love for this Society and a 
pretty thorough knowledge of its his¬ 
tory. I came to the conclusion that it 
was through an error of judgment on 
his part, coupled with a desire, in the 
kindness of his heart, to give me a run¬ 
ning start early in the game, fearing 
that, in my old age, I might not be 
able to hold out to the end, as in form¬ 
er years. 
Following out this thought I am go¬ 
ing to ask you to be indulgent and 
pardon me if I speak in part of mat¬ 
ters with which the older members are 
familiar and for the frequent use of the 
first person, singular number. I have 
been privileged to share in the benefits 
of this association from the time of its 
first meeting after its organization, held 
at Ocala in February, 1889, where it 
entertained the American Pomological 
Society, the foremost pomological society 
of the world, and the Georgia State 
Horticultural Society, with that giant 
horticulturist, Prosper J. Berkmans, to 
call the great convention of three hor¬ 
ticultural societies to order and preside 
over its deliberations. The meeting 
was held in the immense building of 
the Semi-tropical Exposition, where 
the finest display of citrus fruits, scien¬ 
tifically considered, ever gotten togeth¬ 
er on earth, was one of the chief at¬ 
tractions. 
From that date to this, I have taken 
part in all but two conventions, and 
was absent from them only because it 
was not possible for me to attend. I 
have followed closely the history of 
the society, and in my humble way, 
tried to help in making it a worthy 
and a valuable one. 
As secretary, for some years, I wrote 
its early records and was privileged to 
edit, with President Adam’s assistance, 
and publish its first printed and bound 
report, as well as others that followed. 
From the time I resigned the secre¬ 
taryship that the work might be placed 
in more able and experienced hands* 
I have been entrusted with the funds of 
the society and have been on its exec¬ 
utive committee for twenty-five years. 
I am proud of this because of the 
splendid record the society has made, 
and have inflicted that much of my con¬ 
nection with said record on you sim¬ 
ply to show that I speak with authority 
when putting a high value upon it. 
It could not have been other than 
