STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



EXHIBITIONS 



In view of the short fruit crop iu the State, fears were entertained that 

 the exhibition would be small. It was a great relief to the officers when 

 the fruit came in to find the tables well filled. The winter fruits, of 

 course, were immature, in consequence of the earliness of the exhibition 

 and many of the specimens of other apples were worm}- and more or less 

 affected by scab fungus. The increasing injury caused by the trj^peta 

 pomonella was apparent to all, a larger number of varieties being affected 

 than heretofore. 



In the matter of making awards, the Executive Committee adopted a 

 scale of points for use in judging such general exhibitions and special 

 plates as might seem necessary to have the awards based upon the merit 

 of the exhibits. In the general exhibition a table of ratings was prepared 

 for each variety. These ratings constituted not exceeding one-half of 

 the score for each variety. As the number of varieties exhibited in the 

 various collections varied, the average score was made the basis of award- 

 ing the premiums. To illustrate, there were five collections and the fig- 

 ures were as follows : 



First. Twenty varieties, 1,743 score, 667 rating, average 120. 



Second. Forty varieties. 4,711 score, 1,163 rating, 117 average. 



Third. Thirty-seven varieties, 3,121 score, 1,180 rating, 116 average. 



Fourth. Thirty-one varieties, 2, .597 score, 988 rating, 115 average. 



Fifth. Thirty varieties, 2,429 score, 979 rating, 113 average. 



The average shows how and why the premiums were awarded. At first 

 some of the exhibitors felt that the awards had not been Justly made, but 

 in a careful review and examination of the fruit, the Executive Committee, 

 as well as all disinterested observers recognized that the basis of making 

 the awards was correct and that merit had been fully taken into account. 

 It is possible that in some of its parts the plan may be imperfect, but the 

 genera] idea is certainly correct, and some basis ought to be adopted bj' 

 judges in order to do full justice to all exhibitors. 



A BROAD FIELD. 



The Secretary desires to express in this public form the thanks of the 

 ofiicers for the cordial co-operation and assistance rendered them by the 

 press and by those interested iu our. work. When we realize how many 

 people there are in the State who prefer to have their wives and d;uigh- 

 ters go out into the pastures and back lots to gather wild fruits and then 

 not have half enough, there is abundance of educational work vet to be 

 done. There is not a rural home iu Maine that could not be made more 

 attractive and healthful by the growing of fruits Perhaps not all kinds 

 could be grown, but some can. Again, there are many homes that have 

 few, if any flowers, while nature has made it possible to raise many. 

 Some of our towns and cities are made beautiful by parks and shade 

 trees, but in all there are streets that are unadorned bv nature and even 



