32 • STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



thirty, some sixty and some an hundred fold." Ilorticulturists 

 and fruit-growers, at least as much as any other class, have 

 learned that they may and ought to be co-workers with God in 

 re-creating and improving His works ; that it is their privilege 

 and duty to keep their eye on the great Supreme Producer and be 

 ready to take His work in its partial development and carry it on 

 to maturity and perfection ; to take the wild olive tree and ingraft 

 in it the good olive ; to make the crooked, sour, unpromising tree 

 bear good, wholesome and abundant fruit, — corresponding with 

 and compensating the labor, patience, ingenuity and skill of the 

 more advanced, prosperous and happy inhabitants of the new 

 Paradise, — of the better and more fruitful civilization. 



In closing I again say, Welcome, — with the renewed expression 

 of the hope that we may have a pleasant, interesting and profita- 

 ble meeting. 



President Gilbert responded : 



In behalf of the Society allow me to thank you, sir, for this 

 generous welcome so fittingly expressed. It gives us encourage- 

 ment to know and feel that we are welcomed here in the town of 

 Monmouth. It is also a pleasure to know, as we do from the au- 

 dience here assembled as well as from 'your words, that we did 

 well to come here. It encourages us to know that we have come 

 to a place where the people are interested in what we are doing. 



It is a fact that all blessings are not showered down on one spot. 

 I believe it to be a fact also, that in any thrifty and prosperous 

 town in the State of Maine, such as the town of Monmouth is, 

 the people enjoy as many of the blessings of life as are given in 

 any locality in our country. It is true we have rigorous winters, 

 but they give us their compensation, and we are not subj*^cted to 

 the enervating influences of long-protracted and depressing heat, 

 which are experienced in warmer latitudes. The very air we 

 breathe gives us activity. The very atmosphere which sends us 

 the snow storms gives us health. The extreme cold compels us 

 to active exertion, and while we protect ourselves against it we 

 keep our minds active and our affections warm. So we have com- 

 pensations for our inconveniences, and when the balance is struck 

 we have the heaviest column on our side. 



In preparing a programme for this meeting, we have endeavored 

 to bring out those points which seem most appropriate to the time 

 and place and to correspond somewhat with the occupations and 



