4 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Secretary's Report. 



Mr. President and Members of the Soeiety: 



This meeting- marks the twentieth milestone in the Hfe 

 of our Societ}-, "the recognized organization of the fruit 

 growers of Connecticut." We are no longer a young and 

 struggling society, uncertain as to our work and mission. l)Ut 

 we have attained strength through age and experience, and 

 through the results of work accomplished have become an 

 established factor in the agricultural life of the state. 



Busy as we may be in the solving of problems connected 

 with present-dav fruit growing, nevertheless a glance back- 

 ward over the past twenty years cannot help but be inter- 

 esting and instructive. 



In 1891, when the Pomological Society was organized, 

 Connecticut was just in the beginning of the peach growing 

 craze. Now, twenty years later, finds the interest- of our 

 fruit growers largely centered around the apple as the most 

 profitable fruit. During these years peach growing has devel- 

 oped into a settled, paying industry in many sections of our 

 state. The product of our peach orchards 'is known far and 

 wide, and no finer fruit is grown anywhere. The apple, 

 always "the king of fruits," is coming to be recognized as the 

 best, and, in the long run, the most profitable fruit to plant 

 in New England, and particularly in Connecticut. Old or- 

 chards, once thought to be past their usefulness, are being- 

 reclaimed by modern methods, and hundreds of acres of new 

 orchards are being planted, in many cases on land before 

 abandoned to brush and rocks. So, after all these years of 

 neglect and failure, as well as education, experimenting and 

 study, we see a remarkable awakening of interest in the 

 growing of apples, which promises soon to give Xew England 

 apples their rightful place in the markets of the world, rival- 

 ling even the fruit of the celebrated West. 



In twent}- years great changes have taken place in our 

 fruit growing methods. Destructive insects and diseases have 



