STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 33 



THE PRESIDENT'S ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

 Prof. W. M. ]\IuNSON_, Orono. 



In accordance with the custom of previous years it becomes 

 the duty of the president of the society to deliver a short address 

 upon the work of the society, or some subject relating to horti- 

 culture. As workers in the same field, we are all seeking to 

 learn the best things to do in the line of horticulture and the 

 best way of doing them. We are striving to bring to bear, in 

 this search after truth, the thought of the scientist, the art of 

 the expert gardener or fruit grower, and the results of the 

 patient experimenter. 



It is only by careful, varied and repeated trials and often after 

 bitter disappointments and discouragements that fair conclu- 

 sions and substantial results are obtained. So in the practical 

 branches of horticultural work, success, in other words, financial 

 gain, comes not to the shiftless or the indolent, but to the wide- 

 awake, up-to-date, energetic growers who profit bv the experi- 

 ences of other growers as well as by their own mistakes and 

 triumphs. 



Instead of speaking at length of the work and the aims of the 

 society at this time, I shall ask you to look with me for a few 

 moments at some of the features of the pomology of our State 

 which have not received sufficient attention in the past. 



A few years ago Mr. D. H. Knowlton, at that time secretary 

 of this society, delivered a very interesting and instructive paper 

 upon the "Possibilities of Fruit Growing in Maine," in which the 

 advantages and opportunities in this line were most clearly set 

 forth. It is not my purpose at this time either to discuss or to 

 ignore the difficulties and hindrances which must be encoun- 

 tered. The diseases of fruit are apparently increasing in num- 

 ber and severity. The insect enemies are ever with us. But 

 with increasing difficulties comes increasing knowledge of means 

 of combating those difficulties. With the attacks of fungi 

 come the improved fungicides ; with the insects comes a broader 

 knowledge of the use of poisons and preventive measures. Ten 

 years ago the treatment of orchards with insecticides and fungi- 



