24 



STATE HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



plaintain, which also belongs to the same family, resembles it in appear- 

 ance, but the fruit is picked while still green and roasted. The plants are 

 very ornamental and present a rich, tropical appearance, with their Ijroad 

 leaves which sometimes attain a length of twenty feet. By careful selec- 

 tion the fruit has been enlarged and its seeds have disapjDeared, the plants 

 being propagated from suckers. 



" This day, two hundred years ago, 

 The wild grape by the river's side. 

 And tasteless groundnut trailing low. 

 The table of the woods supplied. 



Unknown the apple's red and gold, 



The blushing tint of peach and pear. 

 The mirror of the Powow told 



No tale of orchards ripe and rare. 



Wild as the fruits he scorned to till, 



These vales the idle Indian trod; 

 Nor knew the glad creative skill — 



The joy of him who toils with God. 



O Painter of the fruits and flowers! 



We thank thee for thy wise design 

 Whereby these human hands of ours 



In Nature's garden work with thine. 



And thanks that from our daily need 



The joy of simjile faith is born; 

 That he who smites the summer weed 



May trust thee for the autumn corn. 



Give fools their gold and knaves their power; 



Let fortune's bubbles rise and fall; 

 Who sows a field, or trains a flower. 



Or plants a tree is more than all. 



For he who blesses most is blest; 



And God and man shall own his worth 

 Who toils to leave as his bequest 



An added beauty to the earth. 



And, soon or late, to all that sow. 



The time of harvest shall be given; 

 The flower shall bloom, the fruit shall grow. 



If not on earth, at last in heaven." 



-Whitter. 



Following this was considered the topic 



CITKUS AND SUB-TEOPICAL FRUITS AT THE NORTH. 



Mr. Allis: We can counteract the injury they do us, by klling the 

 moths and bettering the quality of our fruits, of the apj^le ffijjecially, 

 which now is bad. 



President Lyon: We know but little of citrus fruits and the extent of 

 their growth. We get only what may be called the refuse. I found, 

 at the late exposition in New Orleans, varieties of the orang^ of great 

 excellence and quite unknown in the north. Oranges are, p season, 

 very early, medium, and late. In Florida the period of ripeniiff extends 

 from September to March, while in California the same varioies are a 

 month later. Transportation will presently add to the supply a,nd more 



