FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
9 
President’s Annual Address. 
BY DUDLEY W. ADAMS. 
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Florida State Horticultural Society : 
For the seventh time the Florida State Horticultural So¬ 
ciety meets in annual convention. The augmented numbers 
who meet here to-day give us cheer, for they tell louder than 
words of the growth and extending influences of our society. 
We warmly greet the veterans who have been long with us in 
the field, and heartily welcome the recruits who swell and 
strengthen our hosts. It is a source of great pride to be able 
to say that our growth has been steady and rapid from the 
very first until to-day. Though one of the youngest, the 
Florida State Horticultural Society is one of the largest, 
most useful, intelligent and active societies of the kind in the 
United States. The work we have done we look back to 
with satisfaction, and the work before us we look forward to 
with hope, determination and confidence. When the so¬ 
ciety was organized, the horticulture of the state was compar¬ 
atively in its infancy; the orange and lemon business was just 
beginning to be of consequence. Florida’s peaches, pears and 
pomelos were practically unknown. The pineapple, straw¬ 
berry and grape were scarcely thought of as Florida prob¬ 
abilities of importance. The horticulturists of the state 
were mostly at work in the dark as to the best varieties, 
modes of planting, cultivation and fertilizing. 
A STRANGE SOIL AND CLIME. 
Of those who were engaged in horticulture in Florida at 
that time, some were at a strange business in a familiar soil 
and climate; a few more were in a familiar business in a 
strange soli and a strange climate; but the great majority 
were engaging in a strange business in a strange soil and 
strange climate. Of all of these was the Florida State Hor¬ 
ticultural Society composed at its organization. All were 
anxious scholars, not one was a competent teacher. We 
knew that the people of the United States wanted and would 
use fine Florida fruit, and we determined to find out how to 
grow it for them. To that end almost exclusively have been 
devoted the efforts of our society. We have counseled to¬ 
gether as to the soil, planting, varieties, fertilization, cultiva¬ 
tion, budding, pruning, etc. The progress we have made, and 
the success we have achieved, is evidenced by a crop this 
