STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 71 



3'ears it is found necessary to cut them off because the}' are too low. 

 The wounds caused by this do not heal readily and in consequence 

 man}' of the trees thus treated slowly decay. Reverse the order and 

 trim otf the low side branches and let the tree j^row tall as it may 

 It will make a graceful tree and grow to a ripe old age. 



Yes, let us have ArbDr Day, but let us observe it with public ex- 

 ercises by our schools and churches. And why not go further still 

 and observe the day in planting trees about our homes, making the 

 event notable in the family history by some social or literary gather- 

 ing that shall give special interest to each tree as it is planted. There 

 is not nearly enough of this sort of thing in the State, and we ma}' 

 profitably observe the day. 



GIVE THE bCHOOLS A PREMIUM FOR FLORAL DISPLAY 



One more recommendation and I am done. It was long a custom of 

 Mr. James Vick, the well-known Rochester seedsman, to offer free all 

 the flower seeds the school children would plant upon the school 

 grounds. The idea was a beautiful one, but I never knew whether 

 manv or few seeds were called for. Few of our Maine school grounds, 

 however, are cared for as they should be. It would be an easy matter 

 to make them beautiful and attractive by devoting to them a little 

 care. We have known a lady teacher to successfully handle a school 

 containing a lot of unruly troublesome boys, by simply interesting 

 them in making flower-beds in the school yard, where a few hardy 

 annuals were planted. The flowers were well cared for by the boys, 

 who during the school not only took special interest in them, but, as 

 a matter of fact, became studious and cheerfully obedient to all the 

 rules of the school. The flowers in the school yard did it, and this 

 sweet influence is felt throughout the land where the cultivation of 

 flowers is permitted, whether in public grounds or in the private 

 garden of the humblest tiller of the soil. The cultivation of flowers 

 should be encourao:ed still more bv this Societv, and I would recom- 

 mend that one or more liberal premiums be offered to the schools in 

 Maine that will make the best display of flowers grown by the chil- 

 dren within the school grounds. It will not cost the Societv much, 

 and the influence would be permanent. I do not imagine there would 

 be a crowd of competitors the first year or two, but in future years 

 it would become more general. 



Our various agricultural oro;anizations are mtended for the dis- 

 semination of knowledge among the people of the State. The public 



