The Florida Citrus Exchange 
R. P. Burton. 
Mr. President J Ladies and Gentlemen : 
I was requested by the president of 
your Association, or Society, to write 
a paper, and after some consideration I 
wrote a paper. But after it was writ¬ 
ten, I was very much in the position of 
a cracker friend of mine who came into 
the bank with her husband to sign a 
paper. She could not read nor write, 
but that wasn't much against her, be¬ 
cause she was a fine character. She 
couldn’t see very well without her 
glasses, and it so happened that she 
had left them at home. When she was 
requested to sign the note, she said: 
“I left my specs at home. Won’t you 
sign for me?” They signed it, and she 
made her cross mark. I was just tell¬ 
ing Mr. Temple that I supposed my 
paper would not do me much good, as 
I would have to plead that I left my 
spectacles at home. 
Since I came here and listened to 
some of the addresses and looked over 
the crowd, I decided that I would not 
attempt to read that paper at all, but 
would talk about what they have me 
down on the program to talk about— 
The Florida Citrus Exchange. I be¬ 
lieve, in the invitation I had, I was to 
write a paper on any subject I chose, 
and inasmuch as the paper I wrote 
was not altogether about the Exchange 
we will leave it out. 
I have listened with a great deal of 
interest to all that has been said by 
those who have read papers, and I 
have been impressed with the fact that 
the Florida Horticultural Society is en¬ 
deavoring earnestly to further the best 
interests, not only of its own members, 
but all those who are engaged in citrus 
culture, as well as other horticultural 
pursuits. The parallel between the 
Florida Citrus Exchange and the Flor¬ 
ida Horticultural Society strikes me 
very forcibly. The Society is endeav¬ 
oring to improve the methods of cul¬ 
ture, to intelligently cope with the dis¬ 
eases the trees are subject to, and to 
increase the output of the fruit as well 
as to improve its quality. The Florida 
Citrus Exchange is endeavoring, after 
the work is done by this Society, as 
well as by those growers who have not 
been reached by the work of the So¬ 
ciety, to put that fruit on the market 
in such a way as to compensate the 
growers for the efforts they have put 
forth to produce fruit that is of the 
best. 
I was also struck by the remarks of 
Mr. Berger with another similarity. He 
refers to the gentleman who wrote to 
