'Hi STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



liontas rescued John Smith from the fury of her tribe ; William Tell shooting 

 the ajtple from the head of his boy is but a myth, and the ^vhole description 

 given of our lirst parents in the opening chapters of what \\g were always taught 

 was the book is but an allegory, not a true history. However, it is just as pleas- 

 ing to me to believe that our first parents sprung direct from the hand of God, 

 and had for their home that beautiful garden hllcd with all manner of fruits, 

 as that we were all evolved from a protoplasm, — a sim})le cell. 



And thus we find gardening to be tlie oldest occupation iu the world, and 

 all along down through tlie history of the various nations into which the world's 

 inhabitants liave been divided, we find accounts of their gardens, which they 

 cultivated more or less successfully. Some Avere devoted to llowers, some to 

 trees, being more parks than gardens. 



The Persian kings adorned their parks with cypresses, and as their obelisk 

 like forms resembled a plane of fire, the king in whose reign Zoroaster ap- 

 peared planted them around the Temple of Fire, and they were said to have 

 originated in Paradise. 



The first notice of a garden in the historical records of liomc, is that of Yar- 

 quinius Snperbus, five hundred and thirty-four years before Christ. One 

 adjoining the royal palace is mentioned, which contained a profusion of ilowcrs, 

 among which the rose and poppy ])redominatcd. 



Pliny says, "the Konians highly esteemed small gardens filled with roses, 

 violets and other sweet-scented fiowers, while many of the plants and fiowcrs 

 we most admire were cultivated by the Greeks, they not considering them lux- 

 uries merely but absolute necessities.*' 



With the fall of Rome horticultural art declined, and was not again revived 

 until long after iu monastic institutions. We read that the Dominicans had a 

 hot-house in their convent at Cologne in the thirteenth centurv, where thev 

 ])reserved fruit trees and llowers throughout tlie winter by maintaining a pleas- 

 ant degree of heat. 



The introduction of hot-houses into our gardens, seems, however, to be of 

 tnuch more recent date. 



liipe pineapples were first obtained at the end of the seventeenth century, 

 and Linnaeus says the first banana iloweretl in Euro})0 in lllil, at Vienna. 



Gradually as civilization advanced has gardening been carried on more and 

 more perfectly, until now in many places and countries the horticulturist takes 

 a high rank, and horticulture has been raised to an art instead of being a mere 

 occupation. And what a wonderful, glorious art it is, where one is brought 

 into constant and close communion Avith nature and nature's God I 



What can l)e more fascinating or delightful than to watch the growth of 

 plants? Pirst tlie tiny speck of green just discernable, then the leaf, the 

 stem, the bud, the ilower, the fruit. By studying and following nature's laws 

 how much can be done to change and improve the ditfcrent varieties of fruits, 

 fiowers and vecretables. 



Lcigii Hunt says: '^'' What a perpetual reproduction of the marvelous is 

 carried on by nature, and how utterly ignorant are we of the causes of the least 

 and most disesteemed of the commonest vegetables, and what a quantity of 

 life and beauty and mystery and use, and enjoyment is to be found in them, 

 composed out of all sorts of elements, and shaped as if by the hand of fairies ! 

 What workmanship with no apparent workman I AVhat consummate elegance, 

 though the result is but a radish or an onion I'' 



A writer describing a German agricultural fair, says: ''No one knows who 



