214 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
E. O .PAINTER AND FLORIDA HORTICULTURE. — A QUARTER 
CENTURY OF PROGRESS IN FLORIDA. 
Prof. P. H. Rolfs 
INTRODUCTION 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
I am proud to be on the program and 
to be able to present to you a short paper 
on Mr. E. O. Painter and Florida Horti¬ 
culture. I will not presume in this dis¬ 
cussion to speak of Mr. Painter as a man. 
We have met here this afternoon not to 
eulogize his many virtues, his abilities and 
his greatness. These would only be mar¬ 
red by our attempts. We have come out 
of the gratefulness of our hearts to com¬ 
memorate his life as an influence over 
us. There was no movement proposed 
for the betterment of horticulture but 
found his ready response. In my many 
calls at his office, I have never found his 
door closed for a moment; it always stood 
open to my entrance. The many con¬ 
ferences were alwa}^s most pleasant and 
inspiring. Optimism might be said to 
be his primary trait. 
I have traveled with him, labored with 
him, and even slept in the same bed with 
him. He always seemed a companion 
rather than a co-worker. 
While he may be absent in body, his 
spirit is round about us. I feel his in¬ 
fluence as if he were present at this meet¬ 
ing. The spirit of our departed’friend 
is ever with us to encourage us and urge 
us on to even better and nobler work. 
God in his infinite mercy has permitted 
him to journey into that bourne from 
which no traveler returns. This bourne 
lies within us, about us and beyond us. 
The great and lasting good that is 
wrought in this world is brought about 
by gradual development. Cataclysms 
rarely produce a lasting result. The 
greatest epochs in the advance of civiliza¬ 
tion are wrought in the everyday toil of 
the masses. Our common education has 
inculcated into our minds that the great 
events and epochs are ushered in by great 
heroes. This hero worship is drilled into 
us from the nursery to the end of the col¬ 
lege course. Rarely is any account taken 
of the masses who have toiled to make it 
possible to have a hero to worship. Lest 
we forget, I remind you that the great 
work wrought for the advance of Florida 
Horticulture was done by such men as 
Mr. E. O. Painter. His name was rarely 
seen attached to long articles. Self as¬ 
sertion had the least thought in his mind. 
In scanning the horticultural literature 
of the State one is surprised by the few 
times that his name appears in public 
print. I know, however, that when it 
came to giving moral and financial sup¬ 
port to a wholesome and worthy cause we 
find E. O. Painter foremost on the list. 
The pleasant task of bringing to your 
attention his life and works in other di- 
