FOURTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. i r i 



write an article for a paper. I should choose the subject of 

 "the ideal fruit tree." and in that article I should try to give 

 my ideas of what I consider the ideal tree, such as making it 

 harmonious to the eye. and having it open in the center to 

 allow the sunshine and air to come in, and so color the fruit 

 and make it handsome to the eye. I thank you most cour- 

 teously for calling on me, and if ever you come to Hampshire 

 county, Mass., I invite you one and all to come to our fruit 

 plantation, for every portion of the year there is something 

 of interest there. 



President Gulley next introduced Prof. Close of Delaware, 

 who spoke as follows : 



Prof. C. P. Close : Mr. President and members of the 

 Connecticut Pomological Society, and Ladies and Gentlemen : 

 This is a great surprise to me this evening. I have been saving 

 my powder to burn to-morrow, and I wanted to tell you then 

 how glad I am to be with you, and save everything up for one 

 talk. But I certainly am pleased to have the opportunity to 

 rub up against these practical men, and all the men that I have 

 met and shall meet before I leave. I hope to be able to help 

 you solve some of your difficulties in fighting some of the insect 

 pests. One of the specially good features to me in attending 

 this meeting is the meeting again of some of my own college 

 friends ; your worthy president was one of my college teachers, 

 and it is always a pleasure for me to meet him. I think this 

 is all I have to say this evening, and I thank you very heartily 

 for this opportunity. 



President Gulley called on Mr. S. L. Lupton of Virginia, 

 who was applauded as he rose to speak. 



S. L. Lupton : Mr. President, members of the Connecticut 

 State Pomological Society, Ladies and Gentlemen : It seems 

 to me I have spoken quite enough for Virginia, but inasmuch 

 as I came to this section about fifteen years ago, somewhere 

 north of here, to get me a wife, of course I am more than half 

 Yankee now, and possibly when I leave this time I will be 

 entirely converted. There are some things in Virginia we 

 are always very proud of, and one is the old Virginia hospi- 

 tality. I think, when I go back, I shall have to say I have 



