OPENING ADDRESS. 
The address of welcome by Mayor E. 
E. Boyce, of St. Augustine, was a char¬ 
acteristic bit of sturdy and independent 
American officialism, voicing the kindly 
and sincere hospitality which intelligent 
American communities entertain toward 
the tillers of the soil. The welcome of 
St. Augustine was aptly typified by the 
enormous palm boughs with which the 
hall had been ornamented, spreading far 
out overhead like the arches of a ca¬ 
thedral—decorous, stately, free from all 
the evanescent effects of perishable 
flowers—an old-time courtly hospitality 
well befitting the Ancient City. Mayor 
Boyce said, among other things: 
“To this old city, with all its historic 
associations we welcome you most cor¬ 
dially. We extend to you the warmest 
hospitalities of our homes and our 
hearthstones. We trust that while you 
are here you will feel that the perfect 
freedom of the city is open to you, and, 
as the representative of the people of St. 
Augustine, I extend to you, Mr. Presi¬ 
dent, and to you, gentlemen of the Hor¬ 
ticultural Society, the freedom and the 
hospitality of St. Augustine, trusting 
that you will avail yourselves of one and 
enjoy the other, that in years to come, 
when you look back to the first meeting 
of the twentieth century, you will pro¬ 
nounce it the most pleasurable and prof¬ 
itable in the annals of the State Horti¬ 
cultural Society of Florida. ” 
THE SOCIETY'S RESPONSE. 
On behalf of the Society, Mr. C. T. 
McCarty, with only a few minutes' prep¬ 
aration, speaking in place of another, 
rose to a fine touch of eloquence. He 
said in part: 
“It occurs to me that he must be dull 
indeed who, with the history of three and 
a half centuries surrounding him, were 
not able to rise to such an occasion as 
this. And what is represented by these 
three and a half centuries? Havoc and 
war have disappeared, and nature has 
reached the zenith of power and 
grandeur. 
“The United States of America, of 
which we are justly proud, has risen 
from a small settlement on the remote 
peninsula of Florida to one of the 
leading nations on earth. Ladies 
and gentlemen of St. Augustine, we feel 
that you are indeed fortunate in your 
homes, in your surroundings, having 
about you the place where the first city 
in America found its permanent home. 
