2 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



of Hartford, who will give us an address of welcome. You 

 will now give your attention to him. I have the pleasure 

 of introducing to you Mayor Hooker of Hartford. 



Mayor Hooker: Mr. President and Ladies and Gen- 

 tlemen : The city of Hartford certainly ought to be the 

 best informed city in the country on all agricultural mat- 

 ters, on all religious matters, and on all educational mat- 

 ters, and, in fact, on almost every subject, for we have 

 conventions meeting here from day to day, and people 

 coming here, and if we listen to what is said there is no 

 excuse for any man in Hartford not knowing a great deal 

 on a great variety of subjects. It has been my privilege 

 for the last year and a half to welcome many oi these so- 

 cieties, and to nearly all of those meetings I came simply 

 as a learner. I did not know a thing about their particu- 

 lar line of business. I am glad to attend to-day the meet- 

 ing of a society where I can tell you all about the business 

 in which you are engaged. Anybody who was born in the 

 state of Connecticut knows all about apples, and knows of 

 the large and important part they play in our state life. 

 If we go back to the beginning" of history, we find that 

 original sin entered the world through the medium of the 

 apple. I was taught in Sunday School, and perhaps at 

 a later day, although I do not exactly believe it, that Eve 

 ate the apple and then gave it to Adam, when he saw 

 snakes. Now many people have taken apples in another 

 form and have seen snakes. If we follow the history of 

 the apple all the way down through the course of history, 

 we will find a great many references to the apple. We 

 have all heard of the golden apples of Hesperides, and 

 what would mince pie be without apples? Who is there 

 who does not remember Thanksgiving Day, when we get 

 out to the old home in the country, and our grandmother, 

 or mother, or aunt, bakes apple pie, or apple tarts, and ap- 

 ple dumplings, and all the various forms that apples are 

 made into? And so on I might enumerate a great many 



