STATE HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 149 
When man first awoke to consciousness he found himself in that garden, 
_ with no other companion except she who was to be the sharer of his every 
joy, and also of his every sorrow. 
» Eden was truly a horticultural paradise—a labyrinthian grove; among 
the branches and in the shade of which those sole occupants, almost in the 
very beginning of their existence, would fain have hidden themselves from 
Him whom they now had all reason for fearing was an offended father; for 
Him had they disobeyed. 
This garden of the Orient, the leaves of which covered the ground—for it 
was autumn, balmy, seductive autumn—made a carpet softer than velvet, 
upon which they might have reposed, with none to molest or make afraid, 
had it not been disobedience. For, without disobedience, Satan would have 
been banished, and God only would have remained. A fruit garden; every 
tree of which was laden with its precious burden, whose colorings were as 
beautiful as is the ray of sunlight after being dissolved into its primary 
elements by beholding it through the falling prismatic raindrop. 
Bending with all this weight of fruit, ripe, juicy, aromatic, luscious and 
healthy, which seemed to say to the master of the garden, approach, par- 
take, eat and be filled. God also, had but lately said: ‘‘ Of all this abund- 
ance may ye eat, excepting only the tree that is in the midst of the garden, 
of it ye shall not eat, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”’ 
With this prelude, fanciful at least, and to dispute the reality of which 
will not add to the interest or validity of the subject, I propose to present a 
few ideas having for their consideration 
Fruit Growing as an Occupation ; 
and, inasmuch as the apple is of all fruits the most to be desired, so, also, it 
shall claim most of my attention. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen—Before entering upon the merits of 
my subject, I will declare, for the encouragement of such as may be but just 
engaging in fruit growing, that now, while the sun of my life is past its 
meridian ; while I have nothing to fear from the uncertainties that beset 
youth ; with a lifetime of diversified experiences vividly recollected ; having 
been inspired by hope and ambition to develop every faculty; having met 
at times with successes that have sharpened energy; and, also, at other times 
with disappointments that have obtruded hope ;—I do unhesitatingly say, 
that could I begin life again, this should be my field, and I would, with all 
of the past experiences before me, gird on my armor and buckle to the task, 
with more zeal, with greater energy, and with more reasonable expectations 
of success than when, forty-six years ago, then a lad of ten years, I obtained 
from a neighbor the first peach-pits to plant on my father’s farm twelve 
miles away; or, when, two years afterwards, I walked that same twelve miles 
to get a half dozen fruit trees for the same purpose. They were small, I 
carried them under my arms all of that distance. I was foot sore and weary 
on my arrival home, but I felt a boyish pride in my little treasure; which, 
during the next ten years was increased to the number of five hundred ; 
which, in those days, was a goodly sized orchard, and that orchard to-day, 
with its herculean arms entwined together, is a monument to my first effort 
in fruit growing. But, more than that, I see every fall, in Chatfield, my 
