STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 25 



1878, and the irujDroveraent in fruit was perfectly surprising ; I found 

 apples as fine as any I have seen anywhere. I found that instead 

 of getting their ti'ees from New York nurseries, they were getting 

 them from Maine nurseries. But I have no doubt that gentlemen 

 here can talk about that better than I can. I am glad to greet you ; 

 I feel that it is highly important that these meetings should be held 

 and I cannot doubt that the largest possible benefit will accrue to 

 the State from these gatherings. I will again refer to this exhibition 

 of fruit as one of the finest I ever saw, and that is double cause 

 wh}' we should welcome 3'ou upon this occasion. 



EESPONSE, 

 By Hon. Z. A. Gilbert. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : 



In consequence of the inability of the President to respond, being 

 much out of health as we all know — pleased as he would be to 

 reply to a welcome of this kind ; and as appreciative as he is of the 

 greeting which has been tendered to us — I consented to make the 

 reply. 



It is certainly gratifying to our Society- to be thus assured that we 

 meet a welcome among the people Avith whom we assemble to-day. 

 Our Societv was oi'ganized some years ago from a necessit}' for 

 special work in the direction of fruit culture in the State. Fully 

 realizing as we did, that the industry was one worthy of special 

 encouragement in our State, the Society seemed a necessity. At 

 one of its earliest meetings the remark was made hy its President 

 that the industr}- here among us was ai)parently in its infancy, 

 although for many years it had received large attention from lead- 

 ing fruit growers in the State ; and that if we could encourage the 

 business through special effort, so that our meetings should largely 

 increase, we should find our advantages from it increased in like 

 measure, that we should be able to put upon the market a hundred 

 or a thousand barrels of apples where we were then putting one; 

 and we should find a quicker market and more purchasers. Some 

 of the members were hardly able to assent to that position, but sub- 

 sequent events have proved the truth of the claim then put forth. 

 We have since that time increased the productions of the fruit in 

 our State largely ; we are beginning to attract the attention of buy- 

 ers now, as we put a larger quantit}- of our leading late-keeping 



