STATE POMOLOGICAI, SOCIETY. 59 



the Station Council has requested me to call your attention to it, 

 with the request that we endorse their action in asking for an 

 appropriation of five thousand dollars from the State for the 

 erection of a cold storage plant to be used also for experimen- 

 tal work. 



This society has accomplished a great work in the past for 

 the fruit growers of this State, and it has always seemed strange 

 to me that its membership has not increased in proportion. I 

 am inclined to believe that we have not been active enough in 

 extending invitations to our fellow fruit growers to join us. At 

 our field meeting at Highmoor Farm, an appeal I made was met 

 with a ready response and believing there will be a great many 

 visitors with us here, who would be glad to join our ranks, if 

 given a personal invitation, I would like to see a special com- 

 mittee appointed at this meeting to solicit members. 

 • Since we met together last, God, in His infinite wisdom, has 

 seen fit to remove from our midst one of those noble charac- 

 ters which are only too rare, one who not only crowned his 

 own personal work with success, but gave freely of his time 

 to his fellow farmers, to this society and to his State. We have 

 lost a member of sterling worth of character and mind. Such 

 a man was our ex-president of this society, the Hon. Z. A. Gil- 

 bert of Greene. 



