2 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
been very good, respectable also because it 
adheres to its purpose. No matter about 
the cross currents of opinions in the State, 
this society fixes and corrects. This so¬ 
ciety can be termed a clearing house of 
citrus opinions in Florida. In fact, I 
think if we were speaking chemically we 
might say that this society is the melting 
pot of the citrus opinions in Florida, the 
pot in which your opinions are tested. 
This society has done everything possible 
in a collective way to increase the quan¬ 
tity of crops. It has done much to im¬ 
prove the quality of fruit products. It is 
a lamentable fact that with all we have 
done it appears true that of all fruit that 
we produce and send out of Florida, 60% 
will class as second and third grade and 
only 40% as first. I don’t know if it is 
possible to overcome that. It might be 
possible. It may be a climatic condition. 
We look back, some of us possibly over a 
long time, and we see that the years we 
put in makes comparatively short time. 
It takes a longer time than we have been 
at this job to make horticulture complete. 
Just how to improve the quality of citrus 
fruit is a question that should seriously 
engage this society in the future. We 
have a great deal of help from our own 
schools and also from the Federal agents, 
but after all, we need not deceive ourselves 
into the fact that we do not have second 
and third grade fruit. 
Now, referring to the cordial welcome 
to which I am supposed to respond, I think 
we are honored to be invited to meet in 
Lakeland. We are here, we are going to 
behave ourselves, we want to leave as 
good an impression when we leave as we 
come, and if we obey the Federal laws 
we shall probably be able to leave a good 
impression. We feel that we are as wel¬ 
come as when Emerson entertained his 
guest. When his guest was to arrive, he 
told his daughter, “Now, of course, we 
will have fresh linen and a little more to 
eat.” He said, “We will endeavor to 
make our guest feel that he is welcome, 
not by the linen, but by the spirit of cor¬ 
diality that we may extend.” That is 
what we shall do, we will conduct our¬ 
selves so that Lakeland will feel proud of 
us. 
