78 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
bonnet of a comely woman in the city 
than it does when wasting and rotting in 
the unpeopled swamps of Florida. 
More than that, these plume birds con¬ 
sume the fish that Florida needs for food 
and for fertilizer on her thin, sandy soils. 
Whatever the Anglo-Saxon race does 
is right, for it is the nearest represent¬ 
ative of the Creator on earth. 
DISCUSSION. 
Mr. Butler—I would like to ask Mr. 
Powers why he don’t stick to the text. 
He began with the influence of man 
upon bird life, and ended up with the in¬ 
fluence of birds upon man. 
Dr. Kerr—I generally have a great 
deal of respect for what our Secretary 
says; and I thought he was an advocate 
for the protection of birds. His sub¬ 
ject was the influence of man upon bird 
life. Not its protection; I believe he 
has not advocated that. The closing of 
his remarks would show that he was any¬ 
thing else but an advocate, and I quote 
what he says about the plumes looking 
so nice upon the ladies’ bonnets. Now, 
I wish to say that the ladies of America 
are beautiful enough without the stolen 
embellishment of these beautiful birds. 
They don’t require to be decked up with 
these things. Away with them! Leave 
the birds to float in the air, filling our 
hearts with the songs of heaven for ever 
and ever. 
Pecan Culture. 
A DISCUSSION. 
Prof. Hume—I hoped to avoid the 
question because I have prepared noth¬ 
ing especially for the occasion. I start¬ 
ed out nearly two years ago to give this 
subject some attention, and I still con¬ 
tinue to work on it. In fact, I am mak¬ 
ing it one of the special lines of my in¬ 
vestigation. I am very sorry that Dr. 
Curtis is not here, and would not like to 
say too much, because I might be tres¬ 
passing on his ground. But the line of 
investigation that I am pursuing at pres¬ 
ent is that of top-working pecan trees. I 
am becoming more and more disgusted 
with the seedling pecan. I have no use 
for it and I have but little faith in the 
statement regarding the pecan coming 
true from seed. I have not been able to 
get hold of any nut from a pecan tree 
that is just like the nut that was planted. 
I have gone through a number of the 
groves when they were in fruit and when 
I find a tree giving nuts no larger than 
the tip of my finger, I am pretty nearly 
in a state of mind to ask the owner to 
cut it down immediately, and there are 
hundreds of trees that bear nuts of that 
description. They are little larger than 
chinquapins. All sorts of opinions are 
brought forward against budded or 
grafted pecans, but to my mind they 
have no superior. Why a pecan should 
