1 62 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



view when we remember that this investigation includes the 

 whole country, in many sections of which the farmers are very 

 ignorant and with but few of t'he helps which we receive. 



This investigation also, is based upon the idea that the tillers 

 of the soil are the foundation of the country's prosperity, there- 

 fore they should have every possible advantage and encourage- 

 ment. Comparing present conditions with those of fifteen or 

 twenty years ago it looks as though the farmers of Maine are 

 slowly but surely working out their own salvation. Since we 

 are still struggling for better roads, parcels post, and industrial 

 education, perhaps this commission may help to hasten those 

 blessings. It w'ill awaken an agricultural spirit all over the 

 country at least. 



The better education a person has, the better he can appre- 

 ciate country life. An uneducated farmer can enjoy Nature 

 in a sort of unemotional "got used to it" sort of way. He lives 

 mostly on the husks of country life. He has never been taught 

 to dig into it for the sweet kernel which study and research will 

 give him. 



The person who has studied harmony will find in the songs 

 of the birds, the rippling brooks, the winds in the pines, an 

 exquisite pleasure wholly unknown to one who knows nothing 

 of music. 



The artist sees beauty in the tender shades of green in the 

 spring as well as in the brilliant autumnal coloring. Every 

 where he goes in the country something appeals to his artistic 

 sense. 



We unconsciously see and hear the things along the lines in 

 which we are most interested. The bird lover while walking 

 or riding will see a bird or a nest or catch a note wholly unob- 

 served by the ignorant man at his side. The first time Prof. 

 Hitchings came to our home, we were amazed because he would 

 see a caterpillar or cocoon while the horse was jogging along 

 at an ordinary gait. 



The botanist sees a flower no other man would notice. He 

 will walk miles to find some rare specimen which the ordinary 

 person would step on unobserved. 



Prof. L. H. Bailey of Cornell University, has been working 

 for years trying to introduce agricviltural studies and manual 



