TWENTIETH ANNUAL MEETING. 105 



trees. Why, an apple tree in Connecticut has only just bej^un 

 to do business when it is 100 years old, and at 200 it is just 

 getting- down to business, ^^'l^y, Professor Gulley at our ag- 

 ricultural college went over to the original Rhode Island 

 Greening tree in the state of Rhode Island, 200 or more years 

 old, and got grafts from that tree, and it has produced a])ples 

 at the college this year from that original stock of simon-pure 

 Rhode Island Greenings. And Connecticut apples are to-day 

 selling for more money in this market than western apples. 

 You can buy western apples for $1.25 to $2.50 a bushel, and 

 you can't buy a good Connecticut apple for less than 50 cents 

 a dozen, and that is true. So I say that we want to recollect 

 the work that this society has done in the re-discover}- of the 

 State, and there should be no compromise when there is talk 

 of any other section of the country that is superior to ours, we 

 want to stand up and tell the truth about Connecticut. Other 

 people tell — well, let them tell good stories, we will just tell 

 them the truth about Connecticut. We are head and 

 shoulders above any other section in this country. (Applause.) 

 If we encourage any of these people wdio went away, (as we 

 should encourage) to come back to Connecticut, if we leave 

 wide open the door for any foreigner to come in here and take 

 up the land we cannot till, it may possibly interfere a little bit 

 with our dividends. Those of us early in the fruit business, 

 perhaps would have been better off if we had gone it alone, 

 had nothing to do with this society, a few of us might have 

 been a little bit richer, but we wouldn't have been here to- 

 night. And so we say that the door of Connecticut is wide 

 open for every sinner to return who left the old farm, and 

 there is still a chance for any incoming foreigner who wants 

 to come and make hiniself one with us. (Applause.) 



It is hardly a fair thing- to give you two preachers right 

 in a row, but I am going to do it, and introduce the Hon. 

 Edward L. Smith, mayor of Hartford, to say a word of 

 welcome. (Applause.) 



