SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 125 



and 1 came here to i^et ideas to help us ui our work. We hope 

 you will send delegates to our meetings and assure \ou they 

 will be warmly received. I thank }()u. 



Mr. A. Warren Patch, of IJoston. was introduced and 

 spoke in behalf of the commission men. He said he had re- 

 centl}- come from Florida, and that he was "chilled" to get 

 such a reception in Connecticut. He continued : "The apple 

 market has gone ofif about half of what the growers expected. 

 Brother Collingwood spoke about the use of cider. It may 

 be well for me to advise Mr. Hale's friends that Georgia has 

 gone dry this year, and if they visit him they will need to take 

 their "medicine" with them. ( Afu. Hale: "Most of them 

 do.'') There is no question but the apple is king of all fruits. 

 I have ahvays said both here and elsewhere that the Connec- 

 ticut Pomological Society was the most wide-awake of any I 

 had ever attended, and I still believe so. I bring you the greet- 

 ings of the apple and fruit men of Boston ; w^e have been la- 

 boring in Boston trying to dispose of apples since August. 

 The price started high and has gradually gone down. Some 

 make the remark that people are not eating apples this year, 

 but this is wrong, as the consumption of that fruit is constantly 

 increasing, and there are not as many in cold storage as there 

 were last year at this time. The men wdio handle the goods 

 have lost mone\-. They started in paying too much, the mis- 

 take being that they feared a short crop. I assure you of my 

 wishes for your continued good luck and pros]xn-ity. 



Several other delegates were present, but the lateness of 

 the hour prevented calling upon them. 



At 10 o'clock the evening session was brought to a close, 

 all agreeing that it had 1)een the most delightful ever held 

 1 V ihe Pomological Societv. 



