FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
197 
took the place of the annual meeting 
which should have been held in Feb¬ 
ruary. At this meeting the old officers 
were re-elected and several added to 
the board of directors. The matter of 
adopting a standard size box for both 
the celery and orange was gone into 
to considerable extent, but no action 
was taken to make the Florida orange 
box to conform to the California size, 
i. e., 11 J4xi 1^2x26. 
The matter was laid over until the 
next meeting, which will be held in 
Jacksonville some time in July, when 
we will have heard from the Commis¬ 
sion. i'-'j 
It was decided at Lakeland to con¬ 
tinue the Association and to take up 
the many matters which we are dis¬ 
criminated against both by express 
and freight. Some of our best markets 
are south of the Ohio and Potomac 
rivers and yet the rate is often higher 
than points beyond. 
There is no salaried office in this As¬ 
sociation and the officers have been 
faithful and loyal to the cause and have 
sacrificed much time and money, and 
we want the help of every person who 
ships a package of fruits or vegetables. 
We would also like to have the en¬ 
dorsement of this Society in good, 
strong terms. 
DISCUSSION. 
Mr. Warner—This report is simply 
to show what has been done to secure 
better rates, especially car-lot rates for 
eastern points, than we now have. 
They have given us a promise that 
they will make a decision before they 
adjourn about the first of July. We 
would also like to have the endorse¬ 
ment of the Society. The railroads 
have tried to belittle our efforts, but 
we contend that we represent about 
seventy-five per cent, of all fruits and 
vegetables shipped. If all you people 
will come with us and stick to us and 
all of us hold together, we can get 
pretty nearly what we ask for, which, 
of course, is only our rights. I believe 
I have given you an outline of what 
has been done. We have here a copy 
of our attorney’s brief, but the testi¬ 
mony in our case amounts to volumes 
and volumes. I will be glad to answer 
any questions that any of you care to 
ask. 
Mr.-Have your efforts been con¬ 
fined to oranges and pineapples? 
Mr. Warner—No, sir; we have been 
working for better rates on everything 
that is raised in the state. 
Mr. Frink—I would like to ask Mr. 
Warner if the object of this Fruit 
Growers’ Association is to make a per¬ 
manent organization of it and continue 
the fight for better rates and better 
facilities of all classes of fruit and veg¬ 
etables, not only now but in the future. 
Mr. Warner—Yes, sir; that is the 
object of this Association, and in the 
meeting at Lakeland it was moved that 
the Association be continued. The 
final hearing that comes up tomorrow 
is for a carload rate to the East, which 
we do not now enjoy. We want to 
enjoy the same blanket rate that Cali¬ 
fornia has now on oranges, both East 
and West. 
Mr. Frink—I am in favor of Mr. 
Warner’s work, and think the mem¬ 
bers will all be in favor of it if they 
understand it. It is a great work and 
needs to be looked into more carefully 
in the future than it has been in the 
past. 
