156 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
would be no reason why a five or io-acre 
proposition might not fill another man’s 
need. Supposing the capitalist should go 
farther south and investigate conditions 
in the West Indies. He might say: Oh! 
here is good soil, real tropical climate and 
cheap labor; here is a good place to en¬ 
gage in fruit culture on a large scale. But, 
does he do- it? No. Very seldom; he 
finds that sugar cane is his crop. Of 
course there are some large citrus plan¬ 
tations in Cuba and Porto Rico, as there 
are in Florida but up to the present time 
fruit has remained the small planters’ 
crop. 
Now let us examine the conclusions of 
the man who thought the West Indies 
were more suitable for fruit growing 
than Florida. He thought the soil of 
Florida did not compare favorably with 
that of the Islands, but he was wrong. 
One of the reasons for the development 
of fruit growing in Florida is the char¬ 
acter of the soil, and he would find that 
as a general rule the better fruit soils of 
the West Indies are similar to the soils 
of your state. As to- the climate, our 
supposed investigator was undoubtedly 
right. It is risky to plant tropical fruits 
in Florida and I think we will have to 
admit that there is no other reason for 
doing so than just this: that the people 
who engage in it like it, and they are 
willing to take the risk. That some of 
you have made handsome profits does 
not minimize the fact that there is a risk 
and that the same amount of energy ex¬ 
pended in a country with a more tropical 
climate might have produced as good re¬ 
sults without the corresponding risk. The 
contention that the labor in Florida is ex¬ 
pensive compared with that of the West 
Indies is entirely without foundation. 
Considered from the standpoint of train¬ 
ing, which is absolutely necessary in fruit 
growing, you have cheaper labor in Flori¬ 
da than the West Indian fruit grower 
has. 
With these facts before us, together 
with the incontestable fact that fruit 
growing is much better developed in Flo¬ 
rida than in the West Indies and adjacent 
countries of South and Central America, 
one might conclude that Florida is much 
superior to those countries. That would 
be an erroneous conclusion, however. The 
supremacy of Florida’s fruit industry is 
not due to soil, climate nor transporta¬ 
tion facilities, but preeminently to your¬ 
selves. What you have done in Florida 
you could have done in some other place 
with the same amount of capital and en¬ 
ergy. In this you may not all agree with 
me and I cheerfully waive the point be¬ 
cause in order to prove it I should have 
to induce you to go to some South Ameri¬ 
can country to* make the demonstration 
and that would be too much of a task I 
fear. There are, however, some, not a 
few of whom are from your own state, 
who are investing both capital and en¬ 
ergy in Porto Rico and Cuba. How much 
of a competition they have created, you 
probably know much better than I do. 
Some of you have undoubtedly felt the 
competition in the citrus and pineapple 
trade although your mango and avocado 
market may not have been affected by 
it yet. 
Now the question with you is: What 
may this competition amount to? And 
if it increases what will be the cause of 
