STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 1 29 



Maine. I think New England is at fault, or has been at fault in 

 the years past, in not making their territory known for what it 

 is worth. New England people are naturally conservative, or 

 at least have been, and they have not been willing to make a 

 good thing known as the rest of the country has. For that 

 reason they haven't reaped the benefit that they might have. 

 The agricultural press, as my brother in the work has already 

 said, has a large field of labor, and it is somewhat different 

 from what it was before the mail facilities were what they are 

 now. We must be more discriminating. Nevertheless, I be- 

 lieve we have a field fully as important as before. Now for in- 

 stance, in regard to this meeting: There are many people in 

 the State interested in horticulture who must depend upon the 

 press to get their impression of this meeting, and it behooves 

 us to present it in the best manner possible. 



Mr. C. S. Stetson of Greene : The life of a tiller of the soil 

 is one of the most independent, I believe, in the State of Maine. 

 Our brother has spoken of Harrison — I guess Harrison is all 

 right, but over here in Androscoggin County, the town of 

 Greene — the place that I live in — with the possible exception of 

 Harrison is the best town in the State. I believe in it. I believe 

 there is no place like it, except, you know, Harrison. I believe 

 in the State of Maine, I believe in its possibilities. 1 believe 

 that there are possibilities ahead of the farmer in the State of 

 Maine that we have never dreamed of in the past. And I say to 

 you, my friends, that our fields are greener, and our skies are 

 bluer, and our birds sing more sweetly, and our ladies are 

 handsomer than in any other place that I have yet been in. 



I want to say just one or two things and then I am going to 

 quit. One is that I feel that quite a large proportion of the 

 farmers in the State of Maine are doing the wrong thing. Now 

 I believe that when we get in the place where we ought to be, 

 when we study conditions, and when we make the most of con- 

 ditions, and when we apply business methods to our work, — 

 then we shall feel, and see, and know that there is no life upon 

 God's footstool that is so independent as the life of the farmer. 

 I believe this every time. Now I know numbers of men who 

 are trying to do things that they can't do, who are doing things 

 that they don't like to do, and who never have studied the con- 

 ditions by which they are surrounded. I have seen a man who 



