FIRST ANNUAL BANQXJET. 153 



And I tell you, sir, that there are times, as the poet goes 

 on to remark, when even Belula alba fails, and when noth- 

 ino-, sir, short of Carya alba will suflEice ; for 



«• Sometimes he heares, with trembling feares, 

 Of ye ungodlie rogue 

 On mischieff bent, with felle intent 

 To licke ye Pedagogue ! 



« And if ye Pedagogue be smalle 

 When to ye battell led, 

 In such a plighte, God sende him mighte 

 To breake ye rogue his headel" 



And I add, for such emergencies, may Doctor Trelease 

 ever keep for us an adequate and accessible supply of 

 Carya alba. 



But, gentlemen, Betula alba^ noble and great as she is, 

 has had her enemies, her rivals. Even in classic times I 

 remember that Juvenal says, — a man of some authority, 

 though I will not admit the greatest, — Manum ferulcB sub- 

 duxi, or words to that effect. But I am glad to be able to 

 appeal from Juvenal to a higher and wiser authority against 

 this unworthy rival, the ferule ; for, is it not written in 

 the works of the wisest of men and one who ** wrote of all 

 trees, from the hyssop that springeth in the wall to the 

 cedars of Lebanon," an authority, I may say, pre-eminent 

 among botanists, that he that spares Betula alba will spoil 

 the progeny of his loins ? But a new peril has arisen in 

 these modern times, and I pause, gentlemen, to ask your 

 earnest consideration of this danger. I do not know that I 

 can present it to you more forcibly, if you will allow me, 

 than by an incident that has recently been related to me. 

 It has come with all the evidences of authenticity from across 

 the water, and it shows, gentlemen, the persistent malevo- 

 lence with which our British cousins are ever seeking to 

 undermine American industries, even to attacking Betula 

 alba in her own home. The Queen of England, a lady 

 who, you know, is sedulously desirous for the education of 



