President’s Annual Address 
Prof. H. Harold Hume. 
Members of the Florida State Horticul¬ 
tural Society , Ladies and Gentlemen : 
It is twenty-four years since this so¬ 
ciety had its beginning, and those twenty- 
four years have been years of change, 
year of growth, years of progress. As a 
society, we have seen many new horticul¬ 
tural industries born in our State, grow 
strong and sturdy in their old age; we 
have seen some grow to great, yet incom¬ 
plete stature; we have seen others fail 
and die. There have indeed been great 
changes in the complexion of our horti¬ 
cultural industries during this period. 
As a result of all this, the problems 
which confronted the -founders of our so¬ 
ciety are not those which disturb our 
peace of mind at this time. New prob¬ 
lems of insects and diseases, of cold and 
drought, and new types of marketing 
problems have arisen. And these changes 
must still go on, for the knowledge of 
living things is never finished. There is 
always more to be learned, better ways 
to be found, new problems to be solved, 
higher levels to be reached. The prob¬ 
lems and difficulties of a few vears hence 
m/ 
will not be those of today. They will be 
different, just as ours are different now 
from those of twenty-odd years ago. 
Surely, if variety is the spice of life, we 
have it in our chosen field. 
It may appear to some of us that the 
difficulties by which we are surrounded 
are greater than those which beset those 
engaged in any other commercial enter¬ 
prise; that we, as tillers of the soil, de¬ 
pendent in a large measure upon the va¬ 
garies of nature, have a larger unknown 
quantity in our equation than have those 
engaged in other gainful occupations. If 
you will sit down and carefully consider 
the question, you will find that such is not 
the case, and be sure if you trade places 
with him who is engaged in other lines 
of work, you will prove to yourself that 
every line of human endeavor is beset by 
its own peculiar trials and difficulties. The 
manufacturer has his labor problems, the 
railroad man his rate and transportation 
troubles, and the broker his financial 
trials. It is said that politicians have 
troubles of their own, and men in public 
life today are not without their detrac¬ 
tors. 
Far be it from me to minimize the dif¬ 
ficulties encountered in horticultural work 
either in this State or anywhere else, but 
I do mean to say that these difficulties 
are not insurmountable, and I do mean 
to say that they are no more numerous, 
and no more troublesome, than those en¬ 
countered by average man in other walks 
of life. 
