24 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIET Y. 
the hand which received them and gave 
them kindly care, and when new fruits 
were brought to his notice, whether in 
our own country or in another, he has 
always been anxious to secure and test 
them. 
The tendency in our country is to limit 
our plantings to a comparatively small 
number of varieties, and this small num¬ 
ber is woefully small, when we compare 
it with the thousands of varieties which 
from the beginning have appeared in va¬ 
rious catalogues and lists. It is also small 
when we compare it with the number of 
varieties planted by the old world cultur- 
ist. Ait the present time, as in every oth¬ 
er period of our pomology, new varieties 
are being constantly introduced, and so 
well are these placed before the public 
with illustrated and descriptive matter, 
that many might be led to plant largely 
without sufficient knowledge of their mer¬ 
its. Moreover while one variety may be 
good in a certain given locality, its range 
of adaptability may be limited, and no 
one can say over what territory a variety 
will succeed, until it has actually been 
tested on the soil. Herein the amateur 
has performed an invaluable service. New 
things attract his attention, he purchases 
them, or secures them, plants and cares 
for them. After a number of years’ trial, 
under the vicissitudes of climate, of cold 
and heat, of rainfall and dry weather, he, 
more than any one else, is capable of 
passing upon the merits of the newer 
things. Not his, the attitude of the cold 
commercialist, whose only thought is of 
the gains he makes on his trees; and yet, 
the amateur oftAimes prevents this same 
commercialist from falling into errors 
which would be disastrous to the success¬ 
ful outcome of his business operations. 
Among our amateur growers, we may 
count not only our most worthy plant in¬ 
troducers and testers but also' our most 
noted plant breeders and improvers. The 
service which such men as Prince, Down¬ 
ing, Rogers, Bull, Budd and Stuart have 
rendered American horticulture in their 
several fields of activity cannot well be 
over estimated. Who> can count the val¬ 
ue of the work done by Sand ford, Ed¬ 
mund H. Hart, Phelps, Richards, Brown 
and Adams in the development of the 
fruit industries in this State? Their 
names will live long in the annals of 
Florida horticulture. 
It has, however, not been along these 
lines alone that they have rendered val¬ 
uable service. The fruit grower, to be 
successful, must wage war successfully 
against all the forces which oppose him. 
His is no one-sided study; and the ama¬ 
teur has played his part and played it 
well, in the control of plant diseases and 
insects. When new lines of fruit were 
introduced, their propagation, cultivation 
and general care require attention. These 
details have been mastered. Again when 
the fruits were ready to place upon the 
markets he has done his part in bringing 
them before the public. No phase of his 
work has been left untouched. He has 
given of himself and of his time without 
stint. All honor to the work he has done 
in the development of the enormous fruit 
industries of our country. Florida has 
had her full quota of amateur fruit-grow¬ 
ers, and their combined ability has not 
been surpassed by the combined ability 
of the fruit growers of any other region 
in our country. And today, the same 
