STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 45 



countries where the climate is too severe, magnificent conserva- 

 tories have been erected, and the orange is raised and cultivated 

 the same as in its natural climate. The first orange tree was 

 brought to England by Walter Raleigh. At Hampton Court there 

 are some orange trees said to be 300 years old. These, and also 

 some in Windsor, are kept in green houses in winter, and wheeled 

 into the open air in summer. 



Grapes have always been considered as one of the healthiest of 

 fruits. Their earliest history is not known, but we do kn«w that 

 their cultivation dated back to Bible history. Bacchus who was 

 imagined to have taught its use in making wine was elevated to the 

 rank of a god. The vine that is now cultivated in Europe is said 

 to grow wild on the banks of the Caspian Sea, and, according to 

 some historians, the Northmen named the region where Rhode 

 Island is, Vineland, because of the irfinding the grape vine in such 

 now abundance. 



Bananas were first known in Italy. They are now very common 

 to a great belt of country in the Torrid Zone, in the New World, 

 where many of the inhabitants use it as the chief article of food. 

 They were at one time cultivated in England in hot houses, and 

 were served at the banquet of Queen Victoria, being the rarest 

 and most delicate dish served. The " plantain" is a rank growth 

 of the banana. What is called a banana in the northern markets 

 is simply " plantain." The banana is entirely too delicate a fruit 

 to be shipped. The orange, also, has a rank growth, called " sha- 

 dows " or "forbidden fruit." They are palatable, that is if a 

 person likes Peruvian bark or quinine. They have been found one 

 foot in diameter with skin four or five inches thick. When the 

 skin is removed the fruit is found to be about the size of the com- 

 mon orange, but it is very bitter. This out-growth only applies 

 to tropical regions, it never occurs in temperate countries. 



Apples were brought from the east by the Romans. The 

 small, wild crab was formerly the only species of apples, but it 

 has improved under cultivation, until it has gained the perfec- 

 tion of the present time. Homer describes the apple as being 

 the most precious fruit of his time. 



As our country advances in cultivation, many of the heroes of 

 the early times are lost sight of, but one which I think deserves 

 being remembered is John Chapman, or, as he was familiarly 

 known, Johnny Appleseed, from the fact of his having, from his 

 early manhood, been a wanderer, spreading the apple seed over 

 the wide extent of territory in the Ohio Valley. Part of the 

 time he traveled with a horse and wagon. Once or twice he 

 used a canoe, but a greater part of the time he went on foot, 

 carrying the seed in immense leather bags. He got the seeds 

 from cider presses in Pennsylvania, and he would travel day and 

 night, planting seed as he went, and placing a rude enclosure 

 around each planting spot. He continued in this way until his 



