FLORIDA ,STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
25 
spirit is abroad in the State. May it long 
remain. With it, our fruit trees and 
plants are living vital objects to draw 
forth from their caretakers the best that 
is in them. Without it, our occupation 
has become dead and inert, it has lost its 
best, vital uplifting force for man and 
plant. Not only does man cultivate his 
fruit trees, but if he approaches his work 
in the right spirit and in the spirit with 
which the amateur fruit-grower has al¬ 
ways approached his work, his fruit trees 
cultivate him. Thus we live for the best: 
that is in our work, and in so living, win 
from it a reward far above the monetary 
gain it brings us. And when we fold our 
cloaks about us, to lie down to our re¬ 
pose, may it be with the feeling that we 
have lived not unto ourselves but for the 
betterment of an occupation that means 
so much to our State, and which has. 
meant so much to us. 
