Another reason for remembering it will be our trades 

 exhibition. We have never made a specialty of making 

 trades exhibitions of educational value. I think that they 

 will show you apparatus which has never before been shovni 

 in New England. The success of our convention, if we are 

 successful, will be largely due to the trades people, as they 

 have furnished the means for advertising our convention 

 here in Boston. Our Association is not very well known in 

 the eastern part of the state. 



Another reason for remembering the convention will be 

 that this is the first meeting that we have ever held in any 

 city other than Worcester. You know we have met in Wor- 

 cester every year since the organization of the Massachusetts 

 Fruit Growers' Association. We hesitated to leave our 

 home city and would not have done it had it not been for 

 the sake of advertising ourselves and showing the fruit 

 growers in the eastern part of the state what benefits they 

 could secure by joining us. 



Our speakers today are men of national reputation in 

 their line ; many of them have never been heard in Boston. 

 They are our guests, and we are their hosts; our treatment 

 of them at this time maj^ make them desire to come to Bos- 

 ton again. I am going to ask every one of you to feel as 

 though he was the speaker's individual host, that he feel as 

 though he had him in his own care. 



At a meeting of the officers and directors it was voted 

 not to have any addresses by the president or other officers 

 or any addresses of welcome. The convention is going to 

 diet on meat alone. If you want any of the social functions, 

 come to Worcester in March and attend our annual meeting, 

 Avhich will be held on the same dates as during the previous 

 years. 



Our subject for discussion this morning will be on 

 spraying, and I understand that Dr. Whetzel will confine 

 his remarks largely to the fungus diseases, more so than to 

 the insects which have been spoken of to much greater 

 length in this hall. We want this to be a very informal 



