FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
89 
came back that Florida could exhibit her 
fruit by having Florida inspect the fruit, 
it was to be inspected by California, and 
it was to be put into a booth which was 
to be erected on the grounds and fumi¬ 
gated, and it was to be destroyed after 
being exhibited. 
I read that over several times before 
I had the courage to go over and show 
it to Mr. Jones. I knew he would not 
submit to anything of the kind, nor would 
anyone else, with any degree of reason. 
After conferring with him in the mat¬ 
ter and getting from him in black and 
white just how the matter must be han¬ 
dled so that the Fruit Exchange would 
endorse having the exhibit at the Panama 
Exposition, then I put that in a tele¬ 
gram and followed it up by saying that 
the Board of Trade of Tampa concurs 
in this and unless the horticultural de¬ 
partment of their state so modified their 
law as to admit Florida fruit without all 
that red tape, they would please let me 
go home and attend to my business, be¬ 
cause I would not ask Florida to exhibit 
under any other conditions than those 
mentioned in my telegram. 
Then I received several other tele¬ 
grams, all showing improvement, and fi¬ 
nally this telegram was received last even¬ 
ing: 
“Mr. Dennison, Chief of our Depart¬ 
ment of Horticulture, today presented for 
consideration the modification of the 
quarantine now obtaining in this State 
against citrus fruits grown in Florida. He 
submitted the changes suggested by the 
Florida Citrus Exchange as you wired 
them to us and reports that the outlook 
for their adoption is exceedingly promis¬ 
ing. No definite statement, however, can 
be made until about a week from this 
time. From what Mr. Dennison says to 
us we think we are warranted in taking 
a very hopeful view of the matter.” 
Now, ladies and gentlemen, the gentle¬ 
man who sent this telegram to me is not 
only a personal friend of mine, but he 
is also identified with me in business in 
New York City, and I know him so well 
that I am prepared to tell you that this 
embargo is practically raised, and all I 
ask in return is that I may have the en¬ 
dorsement of this organization that I have 
the privilege to tell your Governor when 
I see him tomorrow, that the Horticul¬ 
tural Society of the State endorsed the 
proposition of having an exhibit. That 
will be, of course, with the understand¬ 
ing that you receive the official notifica¬ 
tion that the requirements made by the 
Citrus Exchange are complied with. 
There is more to it than merely ex¬ 
hibiting fruit in 1915. It affords Florida 
one of the finest opportunities to exhibit 
her fruit to the world, and also to open 
up relationship with California so that 
there will be no jealousy whatsoever. We 
have heard from your platform today 
the advantages that arise from co-opera¬ 
tion, and we have heard each man prais¬ 
ing up his section of the state. Of course 
he is proud of his own section of the 
state, but there is no jealousy about it, 
and it would be much better all around 
if just such a feeling could prevail be¬ 
tween the states. 
If, because of exhibiting our fruit in 
1915, the laws of California are made 
less stringent, so far as Florida fruit is 
concerned, it may be the beginning of a 
