President’s Annual Address 
H. Harold Hume. 
Members of the Florida State Horticul¬ 
tural Society , Ladies and Gentlemen : 
It used to be, if there was a br ight 
boy in the farmer’s family, he must 
needs forsake the farm to become a 
lawyer, or a doctor or some sort of a 
so-called professional man, but Jim or 
Jack or Bill, somewhat dull of mind 
and wit would do very well on the 
farm. On the surface it would seem 
that the farms lost and the professions 
gained. But it was not always so and 
more often the farmer lad who chose 
to remain on the farm outstripped his 
brighter brother. Yet because he dealt 
with things earthy his occupation and 
he himself likewise were looked down 
upon. As years went by, however, it 
became more and more apparent that 
to succeed in crop-producing required 
knowledge no less exacting in its re¬ 
quirements and covering a vastly wid¬ 
er range of subjects than the knowl¬ 
edge which brought success in other 
walks of life. For many, many years, 
however, it was true that our practice 
as applied to crop raising far outran 
our knowledge of the principles in¬ 
volved. While it is true that the cul¬ 
tivation of the soil and the handling of 
crops will never become an exact 
science, yet the knowledge which we 
now apply to the work- in which we 
are interested and which Jim or Jack 
or Bill must have at his command has 
increased many fold within very recent 
years. And it is because of this gain 
in knowledge, both theoretical and 
practical that the attitude of every one 
toward the farmer and his occupation 
has changed. Today farming in its 
several more or less specialized branch¬ 
es of vegetable growing, fruit growing, 
cattle raising, poultry raising and field 
crop production is regarded as a 
worthy calling for the brightest and 
best minds in the land. 
As already intimated, for many years 
our knowledge as applied to farming 
lagged behind our practice, but it is 
now equally true, speaking always in 
general terms, that our practice is not 
keeping pace with our knowledge. 
Now it is to this thought that I desire 
at this time to direct your attention by 
reference to the lines of work in which 
we are engaged and with which we 
are most intimately acquainted. 
Cultivation of the soil began with 
the desire on the part of the cultivator 
to destroy weeds or plants not desired 
that were likely to crowd out and in¬ 
jure the ones in which he was inter¬ 
ested. But we now know that the de¬ 
struction of weeds is a matter of very 
secondary importance. We now cul- 
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