36 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



And only for themselves they grow and live. 



"What if the secret of true liviiis; be 



In qniet. self-denying ministry? 



Nature can have no grander truth to teach," 



I said aloud. And as, within ray reach 



An apple tree its luscious wealth displayed, 



I picked the fruit, a transverse section made. 



Counted again the ten green dots wliich seemed 



The ten commands my childish fancy dreamed. 



I traced the outline wliich these points made clear ; 



Amazed, I saw a, perfect flower appear. 



The spring-time promise, by slow growth concealed. 



In full fruition was to sight revealed. 



You smile, my friends. Yet why? Perhaps you see 



The wondrous lesson of the apple tree. 



FIELD WORK. 

 By D. H. Knowlton. 



Some men whom I meet from time to time claim that the subject 

 of fruit growing is an old story, and that people are tired of hearing 

 so rcucb about it. Well, there are old stories to be sure, besides 

 that of fruit-culture. The storj^ of salvation is one of the oldest, 

 and 3'et men and women never tire of relating it, and singing to- 

 gether "The Old, Old Story." The A, B, C's are as old as our 

 language, and 3'et there are and always will be boys and girls who 

 do not know them. It will be remembered, moreover, that the wise 

 man said, "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be ; and 

 that which is done is that which shall be done ; and there is no new 

 thing under the sun." 



So we ma}' say in our pleasant tasks, that the principles of horti- 

 culture and pomology are as old as the hills, but there are and always 

 will be men who do not know them. What more delightful duty can 

 we have than teaching these principles so far as we may be fortu- 

 nate enough to know them ourselves? None of us, however, are so 

 fortunate as to have gained a knowledge of all or even a consider- 

 able part of all there is even in those branches of fruit growing in 

 which we ma}' be the .most proficient. While the laws of nature 

 may be unchangeable man has never gained a knowledge of them 

 except as the reward for his study and diligence. As yet I am con- 

 fident Nature has revealed to none of us a knowledge of all her ways, 

 and there lies just before us in every department of our work, fuller 



