176 STATE HOETIOULTURA'L SOCIETY. 



stately Summer Kose, clothed in living green and bespangled with it» 

 delicious crimson fruit; or rested within the shade of a majestic 

 Golden Sweet, dotted all over with "golden apples ;" or many other 

 varieties whose spreading boughs and symmetrical heads afford refresh- 

 ing shade, and whose fruit would comfort the most delicate taste. 



THE APPLE IN MYTHOLOGY. 



Terra, the mother and then the wife of Uranus, whose ofTspring^ 

 were the Titans'and hundred-handed giants, gave Juno, wife of Jupiter^ 

 "golden apples" as a wedding present. They were committed to the 

 guardian care of the Hesperides, daughters of Jupiter, who planted 

 them in their garden in Mt. Atlas. 



When Eris (strife) threw the prize of beauty into the midst of 

 the assembled divinities, Juno, Venus and Pallas Atheuje (Minerva) 

 quarreled over it. Paris, the handsome, accomplished and valiant,^ 

 was appointed by Jupiter to make the award and settle the dispute. 

 He gallantly awarded the prize, "the golden apple" inscribed "to the 

 fairest," to Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, whose favorite 

 plants and fruit were the poppy, myrtle, rose and apple. 



Pomona, the goddess of fruit and the garden, is represented in 

 ancient works of art as seated on a basket of fruits and tiowers,. 

 crowned with a wreath of ivy, myrtle and apple blossoms, with a^ 

 branch in her left hand and apples in her right. 



Henderson's Hand-book of Plants says, ''The history of the apple 

 shares obscurity with all the fruits, vegetables and flowers that were 

 in cultivation before records were kept. Consequently, speculation 

 must take place of facts in connection with the early history of thi& 

 valuable fruit. The general opinion is that the origin of this imperial 

 fruit is the wild crab." 



THE HISTORY. 



Writing the history of the apple is like searching fables, mythol- 

 ogy and tradition to find a correct history of the [rise, progress, de- 

 velopment, civilization, intelligence and culture of the nations of anti- 

 quity. 



Originating in mythology, shrouded in mystery, colored by fable 

 and transmitted by tradition through ages : we are left to grope our 

 way in darkness, span chasms of hundreds or thousands of years by spec- 

 ulation and connect fancy with fact ; sift wild vagaries of tradition from 

 hieroglyphical records and cuneiform inscriptions ; analyze the fabulous 

 distortions of early historians by the modern developments of archae- 

 ological discoveries —all, all, before a correct foundation can be laid 



