FLORIDA iSTATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
31 
for us to understand the world move¬ 
ments. We are in such immediate com¬ 
munication with all of our competitors, 
and our competitors are in so close touch 
with us, that unless we understand the 
whole situation and take advantage of 
the opportunities as they occur, we shall 
be hopelessly outclassed in the competi¬ 
tion. The serious question with us to¬ 
day is, what are we doing and are we 
doing all we can to better our conditions, 
to increase our power of producing crops 
and to reduce the cost of production of 
the same. We all know that the cost of 
production has increased greatly in the 
last fifteen years. Fertilizers have in¬ 
creased in cost, labor nearly doubled in 
price, transportation has been but slight¬ 
ly reduced, and the purchasing power of 
the money we receive in return for our 
products has decreased nearly 50 per 
cent. We are in a decade of high prices 
but cheap money. 
We are now face to face with a situa¬ 
tion that demands the most earnest and 
energetic study of our problems, both 
from a technical and a practical stand¬ 
point. 
INCREASE OF POPULATION. 
Florida was the first place in what are 
now the United States to receive colo¬ 
nists from Europe. For various reasons 
that need not be enumerated at this time, 
the development of Florida has been ex¬ 
tremely slow. At the present time our 
area is probably the most sparsely set¬ 
tled of any State east of the Mississippi. 
Various causes have contributed to bring 
this about. We are now, however, re¬ 
ceiving immigrants from almost all parts 
of the United States, the main reason for 
this being the fact that good, available 
farm lands in other parts of the United 
States have been practically all taken up. 
The last West has been conquered. Con¬ 
sequently the pioneers who have no more 
West in which to locate, must turn in an¬ 
other direction to secure cheap and suit¬ 
able lands. A large number of the peo¬ 
ple from the overcrowded sections of the 
Middle West and West, are pouring into 
the immense unsettled portions of the 
Northwest Territory of Canada. Enough 
of our citizens have already moved across 
the border to make a population equal to 
that contained in Florida. In other 
words, the United States has already con¬ 
tributed at least one State to the develop¬ 
ment of Canada. Many of our citizens 
are not satisfied, however, to leave the 
protection of the flag under which they 
were born and raised, but prefer to seek 
employment and a livelihood even in far- 
off Florida, which has been represented 
to them as a place where it is almost im¬ 
possible to live. This movement and un¬ 
rest has its basis in some fundamental 
condition. The fundamental condition 
that is confronting these people is the 
same one that we have to meet here. The 
population of the United States is now 
increasing at the rate of a million a year. 
At first thought this would appear to be 
very encouraging, since it means a mil¬ 
lion people more every year to eat or¬ 
anges; but oranges are not absolute ne¬ 
cessities, and bread comes first. With 
this more fierce struggle for subsistence 
comes a corresponding decrease in oppor¬ 
tunity for buying those things that are 
absolutely necessary. 
