STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 25 



the committee appointed to prepare a memorial of his life and labors. 

 We may also fittingly mention here, the death of Hon. Marshall P. 

 "Wilder, the founder and President of the American Pomological So- 

 ciety. A long life actively devoted to advancing the interests of 

 horticulture had endeared him to pomologists everywhere, and we, 

 in common with our sister societies, gratefully acknowledge the debt 

 we owe to this pioneer. 



Having in his 3'ounger days a love for rural life, he chose farm 

 work rather than a college course. Later he became a merchant in 

 Boston, spending his morning hours in superintending the work in 

 his garden and orchard. Since retiring from business some years 

 ago he has spent nearly all his time in his favorite occupation, the 

 culture of fruits and flowers and flora-hybridizing. It can truthfully 

 be said that no man in this country' has done so much for the cause 

 of floriculture and pomology as Marshall P. Wilder. 



Our September exhibition, which was held in connection with the 

 State Fair, was in some respects more satisfactory than usual. We 

 had all the space needed for spreading the fruit, and by making some 

 changes in the arrangements of fruits and flowers, the exhibit was 

 more pleasing and much more convenient for the awarding commit- 

 tee. While it is impossible in the rooms assigned us to make an 

 artistic displa}', we think still further improvements can be made that 

 will add very much to the attractiveness of the exhibition. I would 

 again call your attention to the fact that it will be impossible to give 

 satisfaction to exhibitors until we are able to employ expert judges 

 who have no personal interest in the exhibit. 



We recommended last year that the Society take some measures to 

 encourage the setting of trees in public places, and we hail with pleas- 

 ure the suggestion of Governor Bodwell, in his address, that a law 

 be enacted, appointing a day, as a holiday, to be known as "Arbor 

 Day," to be devoted to the planting of trees, useful and ornamental. 

 We suggest a committee be appointed b}^ the Society, whose duty it 

 shall be to use their influence in giving this bill a passage. 



I would call your attention to a bill which has been presented to 

 Congress by Hon. W. W. Hatch of Missouri, entitled "A bill to es- 

 tablish agricultural experiment stations in connection with the agri- 

 cultural colleges in the several States." It seems to us that this is 

 a step in the right direction, and such a station rightly equipped, with 

 competent officers, would be of incalculable benefit to the fruit growers 

 as well as the farmers of Maine. How many fields of potatoes were 



