PROCEEDIXGS OF THE WINTER :SIEETIXG. 21 



objected, thinking that we were able to go on alone, and I think still we 

 can do so. 



POMONA AND HER FRUITS. 



Under the direction of Prof. Pattengill and Prof. Taft, who were its 

 authors, thirteen young ladies of Capital grange recited this beautiful and 

 effective dialogue: 



Cei'esj In the palmy days of Greece, Ceres, goddess of agriculture, was 

 honored with two great festivals of three and nine days' length. Triptole- 

 mus, a pupil of Ceres, taught mankind the art of agriculture, thus raising 

 man from a hunter and shepherd to the dignity of a husbandman. Among 

 the Romans she also enjoyed two seasons of worship, in April and iu the 

 autumn, when, crowned with garlands of oak leaves and wheat, the people 

 danced and sang songs in her honor. The social order and the care of the 

 grains were particularly ascribed to her. 



Flora: Flora, the goddess of the flowers, was also worshipped by both 

 Greeks and Eomans. Among the Romans her worshii^ dates back to the 

 very early days of the city, having been introduced by Numa, the second 

 king. The floral festivals in her honor were instituted more than 2,000 

 years ago, and lasted from the 28th of April to the 1st of May, the festivities 

 of May day. which are still kept up in some places, being an outgrowth 

 from this old heathen custom. 



Pomona : In their festivals, the worship of Pomona, the goddess of the 

 fruits, was not forgotten by the Romans. She had her temple and priest 

 at Rome and her altars were covered with offerings. AVith a priuiing- 

 knife in one hand, a basket of fruit in the other, and a garland in her hair, 

 she is pictured to us as a true goddess of the fruits. Let me now summon 

 before us the fruits over which she presides as the patron goddess. 



I will first call up the Rose family, which, from the number of valuable 

 fruits contained in it, might well be called the family of fruits. Tell us 

 what your family contains. 



Rose Family : "VTe consist of the pome fruits — apple, pear, and quince; 

 the drupes — peaches, plums, cherries, apricots, and nectarines, besides the 

 strawberry, raspberry and blackberry. Our family is also rich in the pos- 

 session of the rose, queen among flowers, the spiraeas, mountain ash, and 

 hawthorn. 



Pomona: What is your historv and what your uses? Who speaks 

 first? 



Apple: Of all the fruits, the apple claims the right to be first heard. 

 Since the earliest times, none has taken higher rank. Eden's tree of 

 knowledge, the golden fruit of the Hesperides, and the immortality- 

 conferring dessert of the gods, all were apples. In olden times, cultivated 

 by the Greeks and Romans, it has gone with man to the four quarters of 

 the earth and now flourishes in all parts of the temperate zones. 



Pomona: What was your original form? 



Apple: In the early ages, the apples were small and coarse and sour, 

 the wild crab of Europe. The improved varieties of today are the result 

 of selections, mostly of natural chance seedlings. 



Pomona: How are you propagated and grown? 



Apple: We are grown by grafting or budding selected varieties upon 



