Maine State Pomological Society. 



TEAIN'SACTIONS FOE 1873. 



The Act of Incorporation of the Maine State Pomological So- 

 ciety provides, among other things, that " said Society shall have 

 all the rights, privileges and powers conferred by the laws of this 

 State upon county and local agricultural societies, and shall be 

 subject to all liabilities imposed by existing laws upon such socie- 

 ties, so far as the same are applicable to the objects of this 

 Society." This provision is understood to impose upon the Society 

 the duty of making an annual report, through its secretary, to 

 the Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, at the same time and 

 in the same manner as county and local societies are required to 

 make reports. (R. S. chap. 58, § 11.) But from the special char- 

 acter of the work assigned to this society by its charter, viz : " the 

 promotion of fruit culture," the statute will be construed as so far 

 " applicable to the objects of this society," as to authorize the 

 secretary, while following the outline therein prescribed, to sub- 

 stitute the technical word " Pomology" * for the more general 

 term, "Agriculture." With this necessary modification, the de- 

 tails called for by the statute will be embraced in the following 

 pages and accompanying documents. 



But it is proper at the outset, to give, in this first report, a 

 history of the origin and organization of the Society, and a sketch 

 of the causes which led to its formation. This will involve a 

 glance at the history of fruit-growing in the State. 



Fruits Indigenous to Maine. 



It was long ago demonstrated that most of the fruits which are 

 in a general sense adapted to temperate climates could be grown 

 successfully in many portions of this State, and many of them in 



* " Pomology, n. The art or science of raising fruit." — Webster, 



