well attended. In fact one of our New England societies 

 will not publish its report this year from lack of funds. The- 

 Secretary would urge all members to pay their $1 promptly 

 and make a special drive for a new member. Remember 

 we have a member who always gets at least one new mem- 

 ber every .year since he joined. How many have you 

 brought in? 



Owing largely to labor conditions no field meetings 

 were held the past season. 



The executive committee recommend to remit dues of 

 members in the service for duration of the war. How many 

 barrels of apples Ol the 1918 crop will you donate to the sol- 

 diers overseas f. o. b. your station, or the Secretary would 

 suggest a special committee to develop this, believing the 

 Boston Red Cross or Y. M. C. A. will see to the delivery 

 "over there". 



The executive committee recently met witn the State 

 Food Administration regarding the sugar situation for pre- 

 serving fruit this summer and asked for 50 lbs. per family 

 for canning. Apparently the Government looks favorably 

 on this use of sugar and the latest word on the subject will 

 be given this evening. JMean while tap your sugar maples. 



The Secretary had the pleasure of attending tlie meet- 

 ing of the New York State Fruit Growers at Rochester and 

 certainly the scale of their trade exhibits is inspiring though 

 war conditions are affecting matters even here. Tractors 

 and spray guns were the head liners for drawmg interest. 

 The fruit exhibit was much smaller than usual as was the 

 attendance at the lectures. These are open only to mem- 

 bers and two dollars dues must be paid in before entering. 

 How would our members like that scheme here? All right 

 then, bring along that new member. We need him thir; ye:\r 

 and NOW. Of course we cannot expect the peacn growers 

 to join this year for all New England and the Hudson Valley 

 are entirely wiped out even to Rochester and down to cen- 

 tral New Jersey. So bring in the apple and small fruit men 

 and bring them in strong for we need them to help publish 



