420 Transactions of the A^fERTCAN Institute. 



of tlie more poetical department of our noble science, whose pro- 

 verbial sweetness Shakespeare tells us no other name could dispel. 



It is ever cheerful, whether found, as it has been, amid the glaciers 

 and the eternal snows of the very Alps, as well as in Sharon of old, 

 or whether blooming bfeside the palace or hut, from its earliest unfold- 

 ing in spring till that somber season when " the last rose of summer 

 is faded and gone." 



But especially we invite your attention, Mr. Chairman, to the 

 substance of this handle itself. In it, sir, we present you a momento 

 which we know you will not fail to treasure, a portion of the apple 

 tree which had the pruning care of one whose name is dear to every 

 lover of agricultural improvement, to every member of this club, 

 where his voice was heard so often and so instructively. I alludeto 

 the late Professor Mapes, from whose farm, now so admirably man- 

 aged by one (now present, as I am glad to see), on whom the mantle 

 of the departed pioneer in deep plowing and unsparing fertilization, 

 has so worthily fallen, as all will agree who have the pleasure of 

 knowing him. 



Of the apple, as the last emblem I shall mention, I might content 

 myself, sir, with saying that, as among the larger fruits it, in univer- 

 sality of grow^th and use, is to the orchard what the wheatberry is to 

 the field, indispensable to the farm worthy of the name. 



The apple tree, sir, is now the most historic of all trees, at least, to 

 the friends of agricultural improvement. It was under the first apple 

 tree ever planted, according to the bible, that innocence, heaven-born 

 though she was, surrendered to sin, to be followed, as Milton sings, 

 by all our woes, including even death. 



I mention now a second surrender under an apple tree, which 

 grew in our own southern Eden, the cause and the immediate conse- 

 quences, the world-concerning consequences, of which all are familiar. 

 That was a Surrender of which I will only say, that I trust it will 

 have opened a new and beneficent field for the infiuences of this 

 club, as one of the more remote consequences over which I am sure, 

 we shall all rejoice. 



But, Mr. Chairman, if it be true, as the divine fact quoted assures 



us, that 



"Peace hath her victories, 

 More renowned than war." 



then was there a surrender under still anotlier apple tree, which grew 

 nearer to us — the identical tree, I may say, from which this handle 



