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FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
THE COMMERCIAL SIDE OF THE FLOWER GARDEN. 
By Mahlon Gore. 
Mr. President } Ladies and Gentlemen: 
Horticulture, as a commercial asset, 
should not be underestimated. With 
us, who are interested in this Associa¬ 
tion, horticulture, in its refining and 
elevating influence upon the human 
family, is no less valuable. We seldom 
see a real lover of flowers who is coarse 
and vulgar in his nature. How many of 
us can trace our first noble impulses to 
Mother’s flower garden? How many of 
us plucked flowers from that garden with 
which to win the smiles of our chum’s 
coy little sister? Babies love flowers and 
are attracted \by their beauty and fra¬ 
grance. We ornament our houses and 
our tables with them; we bedeck our bride 
with flowers, and we place flowers on the 
graves of our departed loved ones. 
The flowers of Florida have already 
attracted thousands of visitors who, later 
on, have cast their lots with us and are 
now counted among our most desirable 
citizens. “There is a use in beauty,” 
and nowhere is the adage exemplified 
with more force than among horticultur¬ 
ists. And still we do not make the most 
of these gifts of the Creator in adding 
to the attractiveness of our homes and 
our state. As a purely business proposi¬ 
tion I believe that we might add twenty- 
five per cent, to the commercial value of 
our possessions if we would give suf¬ 
ficient time and attention to the cultiva¬ 
tion of flowers and ornamental plants and 
shrubs. What is of more value still, 
would be the added charm of home to 
our children; their greater interest in 
and love for home, and the refining ef¬ 
fect upon their developing intellects. The 
boy who loves flowers to such a degree 
that he will delight to cultivate them, will 
find little time to spend in the saloon, and 
will have little inclination to go there for 
amusement. 
We old men know that the girl who 
cultivates flowers for love of them is far 
more lovable than her sister whose chief 
delight is matinees and social excitements, 
although these last are not to be tabooed 
by any means, for they give the girls the 
opportunity to add to their own charms 
through dainty floral adornment. 
We all love beauty, and we are richer 
in mind for this love. We might be 
richer in purse if we would devote more 
time and attention to aesthetic horticul¬ 
ture. I believe that one hour a day on 
the part of each member of this Associa¬ 
tion, devoted to the cultivation of flowers 
and ornamental plants, for the period of 
five years, would add one hundred thou¬ 
sand intelligent, refined people to the 
population of Florida. Every city and 
town in the state should vie with all the 
others in adding ito its attractions for 
new settlers. The competition should be 
sharp, determined and continuous. Each 
home should have its floral gem of a 
flower garden. Each resident should try 
to outdo his neighbor. Each town should 
try to outshine all of the rest. Every 
country home should have its little orna¬ 
mental park. 
With such a state of things, Florida 
would be the most charming state in the 
