98 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



much in the State of Maine as would the stately pine that has been 

 our boast and our glory in the past, and with proper treatment 

 may still be in the future. 



I suppose it would be out of order to discuss at all the subject 

 of a national emblem. It is undoubtedly true that a garland will 

 be adopted. If it were not adopted it seems to me that corn should 

 Ije the national emblem. Ordinarily we have but little apprecia- 

 tion of the extent and value of this product. It leads all others. 



Sec'y McKeen — The remarks of Dr. Fernald in relation to the 

 pine as a fitting emblem for our State were extremely timely, i am 

 aware that he has put much thought and care into this subject, but 

 I hardly agree with him in one of the conclusions that he reached 

 to-day, — that only by extreme care can Maine continue to be "Pine 

 Tree State." It occurs to me that Maine is bound to be "Pine Tree 

 State," that she cannot be anything else ; that the pine is so thor- 

 oughly and completely indigenous to her soil that it must and will 

 grow in spite of the woful and wasteful inroads of our Maine lum- 

 bermen and farmers. Twice in my memory have I assisted in 

 cutting the pine growth from a piece of land for the purpose of 

 pasturage, and to-day that piece of land is worth more than any 

 other piece on our farm for the pine growth that covers it ; and that 

 is not an isolated case. Similar cases are occurring all over our 

 State, and I believe that it is well that Mrs. Beedy has come here 

 to day to talk to us upon this question of the pine, — the pine tree 

 as the floral emblem of our grand State. The first meeting of the 

 Federation of Woman's Clubs was held in the office of the Board 

 of Agriculture at the State House, and at that time a committee 

 was formed for the purpose of designing a banner to be exhibited 

 at the World's Fair that should carry with it as the emblem of the 

 Federation of Woman's Clubs the purposes of that organization. 



That banner is now hanging in that office ; it consists of a cor- 

 nucopia from which are floating in the shape of the three-leaved 

 clover, the different women's clubs in our State, and from the cor- 

 ners of that emblem are hanging this same pine cone. The citizens 

 of Maine as they visited the World's Fair and saw this emblem 

 floating from the wall of the Maine Building were wonderfully 

 struck with the appropriateness of the cone as an emblem of our 

 State. 



I think it is well for us all to grow up with the idea that the 

 State of Maine is the place to live in, and just as many meetings 



