FLORIDA .STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
29 
to traverse the whole vast extent of time 
from the beginning of recorded data to 
the present. The telephone and tele¬ 
graph are annihilating distance. By means 
of the telegraph, we are today closer to 
the Philippine Islands and more inti¬ 
mately connected with them than we 
were seventy-five years ago with New 
York or Chicago. 
WORLD-WIDE COMPETITION. 
We are likewise much more affected 
both morally and financially by what is 
done even in remote parts of the earth, 
than ever before. To be a successful 
cabbage grower in Florida, the horticul¬ 
turist must know the extent of the Nova 
Scotia crop, the extent of the Danish 
crop, and the extent of the German crop, 
and of course must have full information 
as to the extent of the cabbage product 
of the whole United States. This is one 
illustration of the many that might be 
cited. 
We are today vitally affected in citrus 
growing by the output from distant 
parts of the world. We look upon Cali¬ 
fornia as our competitor, and one with 
whom we have to reckon. Too many 
of us, however, forget that Arizona, Mex¬ 
ico, Texas, Jamaica, Porto Rico, and the 
Mediterranean region are also competi¬ 
tors. While we have developed the art 
of producing citrus fruit to such an ex¬ 
tent that, with the aid of the tariff, we 
need not fear the introduction of fruit 
from the Mediterranean growers, we 
still find them competitors when we wish 
to ship fruit to Europe, to Canada, or to 
other places outside the United States. 
I might mention that our nursery men are 
finding Japanese nurseries competing se¬ 
riously for the market of citrus trees. 
As pineapple growers in Florida, we 
consider Cuba and Porto Rico as our 
strong competitors, and think of them as 
being alone in the field. This, however, 
is not entirely correct. Hawaii ships a 
large amount of fruit to the Pacific Coast 
States. The Malayan Peninsula com¬ 
petes strenuously for the market in 
canned pineapples. Yet the Malayan 
Peninsula is located on the other side of 
the world. 
The Florida potato grower must take 
into consideration the crop that is produced 
in practically all of the United States, 
and Europe, and the competition of Ber¬ 
muda. Nearly ten years ago the over¬ 
production of the crop for the fancy mar¬ 
ket resulted in two very bad years for 
the Florida potato growers. Since that 
time the demand has grown rapidly, and 
now it appears as though it would be al¬ 
most impossible to produce enough po¬ 
tatoes to satisfy the market. But this is 
only apparent, since the production of 
only a few carloads more than the mar¬ 
ket will quickly absorb would result in a 
serious slump of prices. I found, for ex¬ 
ample, that the Hastings market was 
around $3.00 f. o. b. per barrel, and the 
Chicago market was 25 cents per bushel. 
The Chicago buyers were buying Flori¬ 
da potatoes because they had a fancy 
market. I might illustrate with the avo¬ 
cado crop. We can sell a certain amount 
of avocados in the market at quite a 
fancy figure. It really does not make 
much difference what we charge. The 
higher the price the more people seem to 
be anxious to get them, but if we have 
