114 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



October 30, 1902. It was just received a day or two before I 

 left home. It is only one of many which come to our office, 

 and it speaks for itself. It shows that boys are studying and 

 practicing to become farmers. They are the bright boys. This 

 is the encouraging feature of this whole work. The boys are 

 studying and are beginning to believe that agriculture has some- 

 thing in it more than mere drudgery ; that there is dignity ; that 

 there is as great an opening in it for men as there is in any other 

 walk in life. And this is the kind of doctrine that we ought to 

 teach. 



Good-night. 



MISCELLANEOUS, ETC. 



Mr. Gilbert : Before closing, let me say Ave have some visi- 

 tors with us whom we have not had the pleasure of hearing from. 

 We are pleased to have them with us and would not allow them 

 to go away until we have had the pleasure of hearing from them. 

 It is our extreme pleasure to have with us this afternoon the 

 President of the State University, and to listen to him at the 

 present time. 



Dr. Fellows : Ladies and Gentlemen, the pleasure is mostly 

 mine, I think it probably is entirely mine in being here rather 

 than yours. It gives me the greatest pleasure to meet the people 

 of Maine, and as I am such a new comer to the State I am very 

 anxious to go about in the different parts of the State where 

 there are gatherings that I may become acquainted with the 

 people among whom I am to live, I hope, for the rest of my life. 

 But the speakers who have preceded me this afternoon have an 

 immense advantage over me — they are experts in the line of 

 work and study in which you are engaged. I am scarcely an 

 expert in that line. I have made some beginnings and I hope 

 to know more in the future. At such a meeting as this almost 

 the first thought that comes to me is the significance of it. What 

 does it mean that people from all parts of the State will come 

 here and spend two or three days together, bringing with them 

 the product of their year's work, discussing papers, listening to 

 experts and devoting their attention to one line of study? It 



