54 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



OUR CHOSEN FAMILY. 

 By Willis A. Luce, South Union. 



What a number of pictures does memory present to us when we 

 bring before the mind the word family. Instinctively we turn 

 toward our own home and see father, mother, brothers, sisters, as 

 we recall them in the earlier associations of life. Then we note 

 other families familiar to us by ties of friendship, and it has been a 

 pleasing pastime to study the characteristics of these several fami- 

 lies and the circumstances under which they were developed. We 

 might select from the prominent families of history one for our 

 chosen family, whose virtues we might strive to imitate as the family 

 of Abraham, but that would not fulfil the purpose of this paper 

 however interesting and profitable such study might be. 



The word family has quite a general signification throughout 

 nature and natural objects. Thus we speak of certain noted ani- 

 mals as belonging to such a family ; having characteristics intensi- 

 fied by careful breeding whether it be for batter, beef, strength or 

 speed. It also embraces language. And we often mention a group 

 of similar character as forming a family. Thus we have in the 

 aggregate of our State a family of counties. This meeting then in 

 some respects might properly be called a family reunion by repre- 

 sentatives, as York county is the parent of all the counties of our 

 noble State, embracing as it did prior to 1760 the whole area of 

 Maine. It is not unlikely that our efficient secretary in arranging 

 for this meeting, thought we ought to visit our parent in the inter- 

 est of pomology and agriculture and see how she is prospering. 



I sincerely hope it may be a rallying point in the interest of those 

 subjects we have to present that we may be of mutual benefit ta 

 one another. To one who loves the State of Maine, this family of 

 counties in which our homes are embraced would present to look 

 into its history and development an inexhaustible source for thought. 

 But whatever choice others may have of family and family ties that 

 of the Maine State Pomological Society culminates in the Rose Family. 

 This group is coeval with man and honorable mention was made of 

 a member 3,000 years ago in these words : "As the apple-tree among 

 the trees of the wood so is my beloved among the sons. I sat me down 

 under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my 

 taste." (Song of Solomon, 2:3.) And I doubt not if we could 



