32 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



we are to study with you here at the meeting in Canton at this 

 time. We believe in better care of our orchards, in better care 

 of the soil and in better care of the trees. We believe in better 

 feeding; we believe in better packing; we believe in better 

 grading ; we believe in better packages ; and we believe in pro- 

 viding facilities for storage of the fruit until such times as the 

 market shall meet our ideas as to the value of that fruit. These 

 also are lessons which we hope to study with you, and ask you 

 to give us the benefit of your thought and of your experience, 

 that we may receive mutual benefit, and may look back upon 

 the meeting at Canton as one of the most successful in the his- 

 tory of the Society. 



Friends, again, in behalf of the Society, I thank you for the 

 very cordial welcome which has been extended, and urge upim 

 the people of the vicinity constant attendance upon the meetings 

 and free participation in the exercises of every meeting. 



ANNUAL ADDRESS. 



By Hon. Z. A. GiIvBERT, Greene, President of IMaine State 

 Pomological Society. 



Another succession of the rounds of the seasons brings the 

 State Pomological Society again to its convention and exhibi- 

 tion — the annual celebration of the fruitage of the year. While 

 congratulations over any marked bounty along the lines of our 

 chosen specialty might at this meeting be out of order, yet, as 

 with every returning year, cause for thanksgiving in many lines 

 of fruit growers' efforts have been such as to bring forth feel- 

 ings of gladness and of encouragement in the pursuit of the 

 line of effort our Society is organized to encourage and promote. 



As is the case in almost every passing year of experience in 

 the growing of fruit, there has been success in full measure with 

 the labors of some growers, and failure quite as plainly marked 

 with others. To study these varying degrees of experience is 

 quite as necessary to success in the business as is knowledge 

 acquired from other sources. These lessons cannot be learned 

 from books, nor are they found in recorded scientific treatises. 

 They must be learned by the individual who plants his own vine, 

 prunes his own trees and watches the results of his own labors 



