44 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



hundred of miles on foot, forgetting pain and weariness in his work 

 for the coming man. There is an inexpressible charm hanging 

 over the eventful history of the old apple tree, and we love to lin- 

 ger in its atmosphere, and, as we accept the proffered seat under 

 the shade of its branches, a voice is heard to say: "See what a 

 living tree I am: I have my season of growth as well as of rest; I 

 have the power of selecting from mother Earth the elements for 

 my healthy growth. Millions of invisible pumps are drawing food 

 and drink for my hungry mouths. I am using my forces silently, 

 but I have within me a power more mysterious and powerful than 

 the mighty Corliss engine. Understand and explain by what means 

 I carry nourishment from the earth to the topmost bough. Ah 

 man! that is a secret, a something you can never fully understand. 

 My 300,000 leaves, with more than a billion pores, are my lungs; 

 these I use for exhaling and inhaling the gases surrounding me. 

 In the fall, I pack most carefully and orderly the new leaves, blos- 

 soms and fruit into a tiny trunk for the coming spring, then give 

 again to mother Earth the leaves she has loaned me for my sum- 

 mer's use, for her future needs, and I drop into a sweet, long win- 

 ter's sleep, but my great heart still beats and my circulation goes 

 on languidly, until my mother says, 'Arise and shine, my children, 

 and rejoice with me, for the season of rest is over and gone;' and 

 I put forth my tender leaves and beautiful flowers, so delicately 

 tinted and perfumed that they delight the world. After I have 

 gladdened you in the early spring time, I drop my petals like gentle 

 snowflakes around me, and the growth of the fruit expands and 

 ripens upon my bough, until at last it is touched by the soft and 

 unseen pencil of nature with tips of gold and shadows of crimson; 

 and when you pass by me in the cool of the evening, you shall 

 breathe an atmosphere so delightful and refreshing that the very 

 gods envy me. Am I not, dear one, the apple of thine eye?" 



The sugar maple, with spreading bough and dark green, glossy 

 leaf, is the near neighbor, and we listen as it says: " Man can 

 learn the true laws of architecture from me; please examine my 

 symmetrical structure, graceful form, lines of beauty and airy 

 srrace: also the firm foundation on which I stand. I send out mill- 

 ions of fibrous roots that penetrate the earth in every direction. 

 Some of them plunge down so far that they reach never failing 

 springs. This water sustains and invigorates me through the dr}* 



