6 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Utmost courtesy by President Beal and his associates, whose 

 action was prompt and efficient in every way we desired. The 

 wish was expressed and emphasized that the pleasant relations 

 entered into at this exhibition might be continued in the future. 

 We are also indebted to members of the press who gave our 

 work in Bangor special prominence in the report of the fair. 



The Lewiston exhibition, held a week later, was the largest 

 in the record of the society. There were 102 different exhib- 

 itors who made some 1,500 entries, and many of the entries 

 contained collections of fruits, flowers or canned goods. The 

 tables and stands were crowded. The exhibition being so 

 early in the season, the specimens of fruit were small and hardly 

 more than half grown, but the plants and flowers were superior 

 to any exhibition held by the society. 



The chief object of the exhibition is educational — to show 

 by perfect specimens what is being grown, and the better the 

 specimen the better the lesson is taught. In other words, 

 everything on exhibition should bear the mark of excellence 

 that others may learn what may be grown in the State. Infe- 

 rior fruit or plants in such a place do irreparable injury to the 

 cause. If perchance such exhibits, as they sometimes do, carry 

 away a premium, there is nothing a man need take any pride 

 in, for while he may help himself to a dollar, he permits his 

 action to weaken the character of the exhibition. 



The olftcers have aimed at making the exhibition better in 

 quality each year, but sometimes the quality of the exhibits is 

 a discouraging feature. No one in competition for our pre- 

 miums on special plates of apples and pears should think of 

 showing anything but the best; if they do not have these they 

 should leave them at home. In the collective exhibits, I am 

 sorry to say, some of our largest exhibitors seem to forget that 

 the same rule should bear with equal force. It is not to the 

 credit of any one even here to show poor fruit, and for one, I 

 hope we may have seen the last of it. 



There were some plants at each of our exhibitions that lov- 

 ing hands had watered and cared for, which our judges criti- 

 cised, because they were "leggy," leafless or ill-shaped, in other 

 w^ords they were inferior specimens. 



At the Bangor exhibition one or two collections came in, 

 several species of plants growing in the same boxes. They 



