Secretary’s Report 
Mr. President, Members of the Florida 
State Horticultural Society, Ladies and 
Gentlemen : 
Another year has come and gone and 
the twenty-fourth annual session of the 
Florida State Horticultural Society will 
soon be a thing of the past. Before the 
meeting the secretary was very enthusi¬ 
astic over the prospects of a very large 
attendance as the number of new mem¬ 
bers and renewals exceeded that of pre¬ 
vious years about a hundred or more. 
The number having paid up to the time 
of the meeting last year was 221 while 
this year we have 341 which shows an 
increase of about 33 1-3 per cent. I re¬ 
gret to say^ however, that the attendance 
is not quite as large as in previous years 
as at the present time we have enrolled 
only 148 and of course part of these are 
Jacksonville people. 
I think this lack of attendance is due 
mainly to the rate, or lack of rates, that 
the transportation companies offer to the 
members of the Society. The members 
are probably aware that unless as many 
as 200 reach Jacksonville by rail and have 
either bought a straight ticket, or come 
on mileage, that there will be no reduc¬ 
tion in the return rate. From the present 
indications it seems our attendance will 
not reach the 200 mark, consequently 
there is no rate given us. The special 
rate given us is not quite as low as the 
rate that could be secured by the use of 
mileage. It must be rather exasperating 
to people who give so much to the rail¬ 
roads in the way of traffic going and com¬ 
ing that they should not be given a rate 
of one fare for the round trip. 
Owing to the liberality of a number 
of our members, the Society was enabled 
to pay all of its obligations last year and 
still leave a balance in the treasury. I 
estimate that this balance and the income 
from the regular members this year will 
nearly if not quite be enough funds to 
take care of the expenses for this year 
and the members will not have to be cal¬ 
led on for donations. 
I wish to thank these liberal members 
personally and in the name of the So¬ 
ciety for their contributions. 
I also wish to call attention of our 
members to the fact that the reports of 
the Florida State - Horticultural Society 
are in demand all over the United States. 
During the last year we have sold three 
copies of the 1905 report, two copies of 
the 1906, three of the 1907, three of 1908 
and sixty-four of 1909. Besides the 
above we have had inquiries for 
copies dating prior to the fire at 
which time all the available copies were 
destroyed in Secretary Powers’ office. I 
mention this so our members may rea- 
