24 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1892. 



acknowledging few superiors ; but also makes them copar- 

 ceners in the ownership of this valuable parcel of real estate 

 dedicated to our particular science and practice. 



The Fiftieth Anniversary of the legal incorporation of this 

 Society was celebrated, with enthusiasm and pride, on the third 

 of March, ulto., and a full account of it is recorded in our latest 

 published Transactions. I should not now refer to that narra- 

 tive, were it not my first official opportunity to take suitable 

 notice of a deliberate attempt to unsettle all established horti- 

 cultural tradition. In his remarks responsive to the toast com- 

 memorating his uncle, our First President, Mr. Samuel S. 

 Green, City Librarian, took advantage of our presumed igno- 

 rance of biblical exegesis, declaring that we are not warranted, 

 from anything in the Septuagint, to conclude that it was an 

 apple which tempted Eve ! And yet the sole basis for his very 

 serious contention is the statement that, according to the origi- 

 nal Hebrew, — " the serpent took of the fruit of the tree of the 

 knowledge of good and evil," &c., tacitly admitting that he 

 does not pretend to know what kind of fruit that tree bore ! 

 Now is not this a pretty frail foundation for an argument that is 

 aimed to shake the faith of ages? Not the Apple, forsooth! 

 The Scripture declares it to have been "good for food and 

 pleasant to the eye." How can you describe the Apple more 

 clearly? Eve was no fool, if she did manifest curiosity. She 

 saw something well worth her while to investigate and — paid as 

 much heed to prohibition as it gets now ! What fruit has come 

 down to us that will more richly repay antiquarian research and 

 trouble than this staple product of Eden — alias -Massachusetts ? 

 I perceive the look of incredulity, as though you would chal- 

 lenge my right to identify our noble Commonwealth with the 

 primeval Hortus. But suppose that I claim the lost Atlantis to 

 have been the original home of our first parents, — how shall 

 you dispute my assertion? And if anywhere in Atlantis, or 

 its proximity, where could it have been located so felicitously 

 as here in Massachusetts, — the Vinland of re-discovery : a land 

 whose granite and ice are once again made to bourgeon and 



