STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 7 



The orchard meeting was held with Air. Chas. S. Pope of 

 Manchester, Sept. 9. Here the State Experiment Station has 

 been conducting more or less experiments for several years. 

 The day was not altogether favorable, but there was an attend- 

 ance of about 150 fruit growers, who looked over the orchard 

 and studied the experiments with intense interest. It was alto- 

 gether an informal affair, looking over the premises, lunching 

 on the lawn, where hot coffee was served to all, and a dinner to 

 the otffcers by the Popes, after which President Gilbert called the 

 visitors together, and there were several short talks bearing on 

 the object lessons in the orchard. Of so great importance were 

 the lessons taught at this meeting, that it seemed advisable to 

 give them wider publicitv by discussing them at our annual meet- 

 ing. A vote of thanks was unanimously extended to the Popes 

 for the cordial reception given to all. 



By invitation of Mr. J. O. Smith the annual meeting was held 

 in Grange Hall, Skowhegan, Nov. 16, 17 and 18. The fruit 

 exhibition was held in the lower hall and the meetings in the 

 upper hall. The fruit exhibition was one of the best, made up 

 of fruit from nearly every county in the State. There was a 

 small exhibition of plants and flowers, and a beautiful display of 

 chrysanthemums and roses made by Abel F. Stevens of Welles- 

 ley, Alass. The meeting was in every way a great success, and 

 the cordial greeting given the visitors will be long remembered 

 by those permitted to attend. 



The program of the meeting bore mainh' on fruit matters and 

 called out large and enthusiastic audiences. The introduction 

 of the brown-tail moth and the approaching danger from the 

 gypsy moth were ably discussed, and before the meeting was 

 over a committee was chosen to formulate a bill for the protec- 

 tion of the State from these and other injurious insects, and later 

 to ask the legislature to enact the bill into a law. The commit- 

 tee attended to the duty assigned them and without a dissenting 

 voice the bill they prepared was passed by the legislature. 



The papers and discussions presented at this meeting were of 

 a high order, and assured everyone that the fruit growers of the 

 State are fast progressing in the best methods of orcharding. 

 These papers and a resume of the discussions may be found in 

 the pages following. 



