24 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
sisted nature that results most prodigous 
and startling have been attained. 
Man’s first efforts were along the lines 
of careful selection of the best seeds, un¬ 
scientific fertilization and indifferent cul¬ 
tivation, later, grafting, budding, cross- 
pollenization, etc., were practiced and at 
the present day some of the results of 
man’s experiments along these lines are 
so marvelous and rapid as to be quite in¬ 
credible. 
The modern horticulturalist has by a 
judicious selection of variations* otherwise 
known as “sports and freaks,’' given us 
the luscious peach as a development from 
the scanty, bitter husk and large seed of 
the wild almond; wheat and other valu¬ 
able grains by a selection of variations in 
wild grasses. 
The strawberry has by careful selection 
been developed from an insignificant 
bunch of leaves into one of our most de¬ 
licious fruits, and now we learn that 
among the latest things in this kind of 
evolution is the production of a large, lus¬ 
cious, edible cactus, as much ahead of the 
kind that the Mexicans have for genera¬ 
tions been harvesting for their markets 
as the present magnificent tomatoes of 
our gardens are superior to those thought 
to be unfit to eat if not poisonous only 
some fifty or sixty years ago. We might 
go on with examples of this character, 
but enough has been said to show that the 
possibilities of this kind of evolution are 
almost absolutely limitless. 
It sometimes seems that the forces of 
nature combine with man in a determined 
assault on our welfare. No sooner have 
we met and vanquished the ill effects of 
'cold, drouth, lack of fertility, insect and 
other pests than we are beset by human 
or rather inhuman enemies who seek to 
rob us of our well earned success, through 
fraudulent markets, swindling buyers, 
robber transportation companies, trusts 
and combines. 
There are evils so vast in their propor¬ 
tions and so fortified by position and 
wealth, that to assail them seems to the 
eye of sense to be madness and folly. 
These combinations belong to this class 
of evils. The longer one studies their 
nature and all permeating extent, the 
more conversant he becomes with their 
results, the more he is persuaded that no 
tongue, however eloquent, can describe, 
and no pen, however graphic, can portray 
a tithe of their evils. To exaggerate is 
impossible. As John Wesley said of sla¬ 
very, I would say of this: “It is the sum 
of all villainies.” 
The discussion of their oppression is 
hindered by the difficulty—in a sense, the 
hopelessness—of the undertaking. They 
are defiant and laugh our puny efforts to 
scorn. Their conquests and despotisms 
have continued over a period of lo these 
many years, and we almost despair. 
Let us remember, however, that while 
the storms of adversity, the fierce strug¬ 
gles for rights, the crushing of worthy 
ambitions, the bitterness of disappoint¬ 
ment, the gloom of despair, all affect the 
mental as well as the physical life; and 
that in some cases disaster is complete; 
nevertheless to the cheerful, optimistic 
mind there comes reaction, relief and 
final victory through determined, persis¬ 
tent and well directed work. 
In our successful efforts to extract 
from the soil its richest and best pro¬ 
ducts, we have through selfish, individual 
effort fenced ourselves in with a wall of 
