68 STATE POMOtOGICAL SOCIETY. 



its mighty influence. Just who its regularly installed officers are 

 I do not know. Our friend Brother ColUngwood of the Rural 

 New Yorker claims to have been its original promoter and 

 patron saint, and I never have known any one able to success- 

 fully contradict Brother Collingwood's claim. 



But all this is immaterial. W'hat is the society doing to 

 justify its right to live and claim the attention of the fruit lovers 

 generally? According to the solemn oath taken by all regularly 

 constituted members it becomes their duty, not to say privilege, 

 never to sit at meat at any public table where apples are not 

 served, without calling for them. Strict adherence to this 

 cardinal principle of the organization has resulted in the sale of 

 tliousands and thousands of barrels of choice fruit. Just in 

 proportion as the number who thus makes this call increases 

 the sale of our Maine fruit increases, for no state in the Union 

 produces better fruit than we do. 



The best thought of the mercantile world is given to increas- 

 ing the market for goods. Why should the Maine apple pro- 

 ducer be an exception to this most commendable practice? 



I have no fear of successful contradiction in predicting that 

 if every lover of the Maine grown apple here present at this 

 hour would enroll themselves in this organization and live up 

 to their pledge, our home demand for choice fruit would 

 increase by more than 50 per cent in the immediate future, and 

 this is surely worth tr)nng for. If it were necessary I could 

 cite medical authorities without number to show the value of 

 apples at meal time, from an hygienic point of view, but surely 

 nothing of the kind is called for at this time, as probably all 

 here are strong believers in their benefit as a tonic and an aid 

 to digestion. 



Let us have a revival of the good old fashioned sort in the 

 Apple Consumers' League. Let us have a lot of ardent new 

 recruits as well as a return of the old blacksliders, and the 

 demand for the best fruit that ever was picked from a tree since 

 Adam partook and stood treat, will have a veritable boom and 

 the Maine apple grower will be the gainer thereby. 



