The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1914-01-30
The Coming Horticultural Meeting.
Editor Palatka News

Editor Palatka NeWS:-
The Florida State Horticultural So
ciety meets in Palatka the first week
in May by invitation of the Palatka
board of trade, and | wish to call at
tention of the citizens of Palatka and
the people of Putnam county to some
important facts.
Everybody has heard the axiom,
agriculture is the basis of all
wealth." but few realize the gamble
the tiller of the soil has with nature
in raising a crop-the accidents OF
soil, climate, fertility, insects and
plant diseases that continually threat
en- profitable returns from everything
grown on cultivated land. The ma
tlonal government and the State OF
Florida spend thousands of dollars
annually to help the farmers and fruit
growers of Florida to improve then
conditions; BUT, the call for all this
experimental work and research
comes from the man in the field. j
is the man in the field who proves the
practical and profitable application O
experiment station theories and meth.
DDS. The annual meeting of the
Florida State horticultural Society j.
the grand clearing house where thes,
theories and methods are discussed
from a practical point of view by tn,
men who have tried them, and thl
"up-to-date" conclusions of these men
are found in the annual report of the
proceedings of the Florida State Hor-
ticultural society.
In the early sos there was fruit
growers association that did some
horticultural work but some twenty
seven years ago, in the infancy of
orange growing, few nurserymen
met in Palatka to organize an asso-
citation to gather information and ex-
change experiences for putting the in
dustry on systematic basis. think
but two of these men are left. This
nurserymen's association in 1888
grew into the Florida Horticultural
Society which later was chartered as
the Florida State Horticultural So
ciety, Many states to the north of
us, with horticultural interests much
less than ours, appropriate thousands
of dollars annually to finance the
work of their state societies, but the
Florida State Horticultural society,
one of the largest of its kind in the
country, to keep free from all polit.
zeal and special interests, bias ant
domination and to invite the fulles
participation in its benefits is fnanc
ed on the nominal membership fee O.
one dollar per year, and in case
deficits, the voluntary donations
it's members. The income of the so
ciety is entirely applied to getting GU
its annual report The society ha,
standing committees on all the impor
tant horticultural topics, including
vegetables, and employs an experj
stenographer to take down the mosl
interesting and practical discussion
which follow the reports of these com.
mittees. These discussions form par
of the society's annual report Of
which every member gets copy.
These annual reports are so valu-
able that the society has members in
the West Indies, South Africa and
most tropical countries. A file of
these reports is compendium of
Florida's horticultural progress. The
society meets by invitation from diff
ferent cities in the state and thereby
greatly increases its usefulness. II
is an honor for any city to entertain
the class of men and women that form
the Florida State Horticultural So
ciety. AS the Hon. Duncan U
Fletcher said years ago in Jackson
vile in giving an address of welcome,
"These people don't look like farmers,
they look like tourists" AS a cit
izen of Putnam county for over thir-
ty-three years and member of the
Society since one year
of its organization, | hope every man
and woman who cultivates a rod OF
land in Putnam county or is interest
ed in such work will increase their
Knowledge by becoming members of
the Florida State Horticultural So
ciety and attending its MEETINGS. Send
one dollar for membership to Miss
Okle C. Painter 1.-THE secretary,
Jacksonville, Florida.
Very truly yours,
E. S. HUBBARD.