Maine State Pomological Society. 



TRANSACTIONS FOR 18T5. 



The general purposes of this Society, and the plan and methods 

 of its operations, so far as they have been determined upon, as 

 well as the history of its inception and organization, have been 

 fully stated in the preceding volumes of its transactions. The 

 constantly increasing amount of valuable matter in the form of 

 reports, essays, discussions and addresses, which give to these 

 volumes their chief value, as well as a due regard for economy in 

 publication, require me to condense my general report to the 

 smallest possible dimensions. 



The annual address of the President, (delivered at the Winter 

 Meeting, and published in subsequent pages of this report) pre- 

 sents a general statement of the work of the Society for the year, 

 the condition and prospects of fruit culture in the State, the 

 principal fruit crops grown, the success attending their culture 

 as compared with previous years, and the obstacles met with, 

 together with important suggestions for future operations ; and 

 leaves but little to ^e said here upon these specific points. 



It is no longer a debatable question whether the State of Maine 

 needs or can maintain a society devoted to the promotion and 

 encouragement of the important interest of fruit-culture, and the 

 v.arious arts and industries which naturally associate themselves 

 with it ; but among the numerous organizations devoted to agri- 

 culture in general or to special departments, and the many public 

 charities and beneficient enterprizes of the day, all appealing to 

 the people of the State for recognition and support, and indicating 

 a substantial progress in civilization, and with all of which this 

 Society is in sympathy, its efficient maintenance requires great 

 vigilance and circumspection, and calls for exertions and sacrifices 

 which are sometimes onerous on the part of the comparatively 



