26 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



their behalf offered him fifteen thousand dollars for the exclusive 

 right to cut scions from these three trees, which were clearly his 

 own property, having been grown elsewhere on his own land be- 

 fore he had gone into state employment, and merely transferred to 

 the state orchard for better observation of them. 



What do you think his answer was? It was a kindly, but an 

 emphatic, irrevocable NO. No nurseryman should hereafter have 

 anything like a patent right on these or any others of his new ap- 

 ples. He would propagate them for himself and give them wide 

 distribution to the people at as near cost as he could put them out, 

 and not deprive himself of the right to give them to any one who 

 could not afford to pay. 



We all know how pertinaciously he carried out this benevolent 

 intention. These Gideon experiment orchards are scattered all 

 over the northwest. We are already hearing something from them. 

 There was a philosophy in his appeals to horticultural societies 

 to regard the encouragement of more extensive home raising of all 

 the good fruits as a means of the moral regeneration of society. 



The proposed memorial is not needed to secure his fame. Some 

 lovers and some destroyers of their race build their own monuments 

 by their historic deeds. Mr. Gideon's monument is already up. 

 Wherever stands a Wealthy apple tree — wherever a plate of this 

 king of varieties is seen — the eye of the horticulturist will read on 

 every tree and on every red-cheeked apple from it the name of Peter 

 M. Gideon. How many more "star-pointing pyramids" his other 

 new varieties are building for him we do not know, but Wyman El- 

 liot, the messenger from Delphos, is said to be on the road this way, 

 and there are whisperings of unveilings yet to be. 



There is a parallelism between Shakespeare and Milton, and 

 Gideon and the horticulturists. We could use his Wealthy apple 

 tree to our own profit and without much compensation to him; 

 Milton could borrow from Shakespeare and absorb from him with- 

 out credit; but at least he could say feelingly as we now say in the 

 same spirit of Gideon: 



"What needs my Shakespeare for his honored bones? 



The labor of an age in piled stones? 



Or that his hallowed relics should be hid 



Under a star-pointing pyramid? 



Dear son of memory, great heir of fame, 



What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name?" 



But we will place this memorial, sacred to horticultural educa- 

 tion, because it is our pleasure to do so, that the world may know 

 he was honored in his own country and in his own state, by his 



