76 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
we with the desire to have groves and the 
idea that a lake on a property is so much 
waste area that we are selfishly, blindly, 
and ignorantly wiping out much that 
might some day make our State a second 
“Paradise Regained.” It is the same way 
with the unintelligent road system that 
has prevailed in the past, and our general 
deficiencies in respect to civic effort and 
enterprise—we have sacrificed many of 
our best interests through narrow, short¬ 
sighted policies that are threatening to en¬ 
gulf many of our greatest potential assets. 
I know so many people of delightful 
taste and most excellent judgment for in¬ 
terior decoration who commit veriest 
atrocities out-of-doors. To them a string 
of ragged, lonely, dejected-looking Poin- 
settias strung along the house foundation 
is perfectly all right and to cut up the 
lawn with a meaningless array of horti¬ 
cultural “junk” is perfectly legitimate. 
They can expatiate at length on the value 
of composition, and line in illustration, of 
texture and design in fabrics, of composi¬ 
tion and tone-harmony in music, yet al¬ 
most any old thing looks all right in the 
yard or on the lawn! 
Now the one particular message I have 
for you tonight is this—it is our duty as 
disciples and exponents of those things 
that are useful and worth while in the 
daily life of our people, to carry the mes¬ 
sage of art and cultured good taste in 
home surroundings abroad throughout the 
State. And what is useful and worth 
while? Victor Hugo answered that when 
he wrote—“The beautiful is as useful as 
the useful—more so, perhaps!” 
This is the viewpoint we must inculcate 
in the minds and hearts of our people. I 
recall giving a talk in a certain town which 
had had considerable advance publicity. 
One man said when the purpose of the 
lecture was explained to him: “Well, if 
that fellow would talk about how to get 
grits and bacon maybe I’d go up to hear 
him!” 
That is the crude, short-sighted, waste¬ 
ful, narrow and distressingly provincial 
frame of mind which must be corrected if 
we are ever to have a genuine expression 
of culture in the State. And by culture, 
do not misunderstand me—I do not mean 
“high-brow” affectation, but rather that 
simple, wholesome enjoyment of the truly 
worth while things of life. One philoso¬ 
pher aptly put it about like this—“Culture 
may be measured by one’s capacity to en¬ 
joy a variety of good things.” 
And we might not inappropriately add 
—not the least amongst these “good 
things” should be an artistic and sympa¬ 
thetic appreciation of the gentle art of 
gardening! 
