STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



OUR WINTER MEETINGS. 



Secretary McKeen has urged us to hold our winter meeting ear- 

 lier, so that the work of the agricultural department may be closed 

 up before the new year begins. The plan is a good one, and it 

 will be a pleasure to co-operate with him. This year circumstances 

 were adverse to this arrangement, owing to conditions that are not 

 likely to exist in the future. The two organizations are working 

 so harmoniously together in promoting the interests of agriculture 

 that no effort should be spared to increase the efficiency of both. 



ANNUAL EXHIBITION. 



Our annual exhibition was held as usual with the State Agricul- 

 tural Society in Lewiston, The first days of September are too 

 early for a representative exhibition of fruits, but this year there 

 was such a profusion of flowers that the exhibition as a whole was 

 the fullest 3'our Secretary has seen in the State. Mrs. Towle 

 served as a judge on flowers and her work was entirely acceptable. 

 We were unable to obtain a competent judge on fruits within a 

 reasonable distance outside the State. The exhibitors are much 

 better satisfied when judging can be done by experts, and in this 

 case it was no fault of the officers that it was not done so at this 

 exhibition. 



Several important changes were made in the premium list, one of 

 which was a premium on each correctly named variety of apples 

 and pears. The object of the premium was to secure a full exhi- 

 bition of the fruit grown in Maine. We show in our list a prefer- 

 ence by specifying certain varieties on which we pay a one dollar 

 premium, and for others not given in our list and correctly named 

 we give a fifty-cent premium. This brought out a large number of 

 varieties that heretofore have not been shown. In all 111 varieties 

 were exhibited. The cost to the society was not very great, and 

 the exhibition is made much more valuable to visitors. Several 

 objects of interest were shown by the devotees of horticulture. 

 Mr. Edward K. Whitney, one of our oldest and most successful 

 fruit growers, sent in for our examination a plate of well-grown 

 figs. They were examined with great interest, and many wishes 

 were expressed for the health and happiness of the exhibitor. 

 Some freaks in fruit culture were presented to the Secretary. One 

 of these was a Sops-of-Wine apple which grew on a tree whose 



