STATE POMOLOGICAI. SOCIETY. 29 



I have in mind many such orchards that will never be reju- 

 venated. In most sections there are still left standing the dead 

 remains of what was once a flourishing orchard. One I recall 

 in particular — I have a photograph of the same — where the 

 trees are still standing, showing a once vigorous, healthy, pay- 

 ing orchard ; now the bare trunks and bleached branches alone 

 tell the oft-repeated story. The varieties were Ben Davis, 

 Baldwins, Bellflowers, and Rhode Island Greenings. 



Orcharding in Maine has never before had such a set back. 

 We are now passing through a crucial period in the history of 

 horticulture ; some have bravely faced the music and with good 

 old Yankee pluck have started in again to build up another 

 orchard better than the first. 



Never in the history of our "Pine Tree State" have the 

 opportunities been so great for the advancement of those prin- 

 ciples that go for the betterment of agricultural and horticul- 

 tural interests. Never before was there so much need of a 

 grain of leaven to enter the lump and permeate the whole com- 

 monwealth with its vital energy. 



There is latent energy enough to satisfy even the most arro- 

 gant pessimist. 



Why not lend your individual aid in the good cause and thus 

 become a factor for good in the community in which you live? 



There are names enough on the books of this Society to rep- 

 resent every section of the state. Of these how many are 

 active workers in the good cause? Are you a silent partner in 

 the concern and expect success to crown your .efiforts in behalf 

 of rural betterment? What rate of interest do you expect on 

 your investment? 



President Roosevelt did a wise thing when he appointed a 

 "Commission on Country Life" to investigate the conditions 

 now existing, in order to suggest others that will tend to an 

 uplift in our home life. 



Not that there is more need of such an investigation in our 

 farm life than in the city, but because the farm is the vital 

 workshop of the nation and the more nearly this life approaches 

 to the ideal, the better it will be for the health and happiness of 

 not only the country life, but of the city as well. 



There is no reason why each one of the fifty thousand farm- 



