INTRODUCTION 



In presenting to the members and correspondents of the Maine 

 State Pomological Society the fourteenth annual report of its trans- 

 actions, I take great pleasure in congratulating them upon the con- 

 tinued prosperity and in(;reasing usefulness of the Society as evinced 

 by the character, variety and practical usefulness of the matter con- 

 tained in this volume. With only limited means at its command, 

 the Society is carrying forward a good work in promoting one of the 

 largest and most important of our agricultural interests, and dissem- 

 inating correct and trustworth}' information regarding varieties of 

 fruits best adapted for our State, with the mobt approved methods 

 of culture, handling and marketing. This is a work which needs 

 "line upon line" in its presentation to the public, although in the 

 present volume there is believed to be little repetition, but on the con- 

 trary much of new, original and valuable information. 



The exhibition at Lewiston last fall was one of the largest and 

 most attractive the Society has ever held, the fruit shown represent- 

 ing a large crop, the third one in succession which the orchardists of 

 our State have harvested. Each j-ear the unprofitable varieties are 

 more and more dropping from cultivation and from the exhibition 

 tables, as our fruit growers come to realize the importance of grow- 

 ing only the more valuable late keeping, shipping varieties for which 

 Maine is becoming so justly celebrated. The apples to grow are the 

 apples which keep the longest and sell the best. Concerning the re- 

 port of the Winter Meeting, it is proper to say that the Society is 

 not to be held responsible for the correctness of statements, either of 

 fact or opinion, in the papers and discussions presented, but under- 

 takes simply to report them, or the substance of them, correctly. 

 The writer of each essay is alone responsible for the same. 



Through the work of the Society, as expressed in the report of 

 the Committee given on page 89, as well as from the action of the 

 State Grange and the influence of the public press, our Legislature 



