President’s Annual Address. 
By Prof. P. H. Rolfs. 
Ladies and Gentlemen: 
We are here to hold our twenty-first 
annual meeting. The hand of fate has 
guided us during these twenty years into 
the most distant portions of the state; 
from Pensacola on the west, to St. Au¬ 
gustine on the east and Miami on the 
south. It is quite probable that when 
Key West shall be made the most south¬ 
ern railway station in Florida we will 
stretch out a hand of welcome to our 
lusty young neighbor, the Cuban Horti¬ 
cultural Society. 
During our devious wanderings and 
in the course of these two decades, our 
membership has gradually increased. 
Even the terrible freezes could not chill 
the ardor for information. The meet¬ 
ing of 1895, following the most disas¬ 
trous catastrophe the state has known, 
was characterized by the most earnest 
attention to the program. While the at¬ 
tendance was smaller than at some of the 
previous ones, the membership was suf¬ 
ficient to enable us to print the annual 
proceedings. 
Of the members who took part in the 
organization at Ocala, only four of the 
original eighteen remain to us. Our 
worthy and distinguished ex-president 
was then a lusty youngster. You would 
not know that he is a year older today, 
if it were not for a slight intimation of 
gray, and his dignity when in the execu¬ 
tive chair. 
CHANGES IN VARIETIES. 
Twenty years ago the list of varieties 
of oranges was probably as long as the 
list of today. Many that were at that 
time thought to be the best have since 
been discarded, and six varieties not then 
recognized are ranked as among the best 
today. The list of those that have ofig- 
inatecl in Florida is increasing, and it is 
quite probable that in the course of time^ 
the leading varieties will be those that 
have originated in our state. 
In our first catalog of Florida fruits 
only one variety of grapefruit was recog¬ 
nized. There are now at least a score, 
nine of which are catalogued by this So¬ 
ciety. The old many-seecled, first-known 
grapefruit is rapidly being displaced by 
newer and less seedy varieties. 
The progressive changes in the citrus 
fruits are however no greater than in the 
deciduous fruits. 
In the case of vegetables we have a 
much more radical change. The old va¬ 
rieties have been almost entirely replaced. 
In fact, vegetables were grown only to 
a limited extent twenty years ago. Even 
celery was spoken of as an experiment 
as late as the report of our fifth meet¬ 
ing. 
CHANGES IN RAILROADING. 
At the time of the founding of this 
Society (1888) a large part of the state 
was horticulturally unknown. Such rail¬ 
roads as occurred in the state were poorly 
