PROCEEDINGS OF THE HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 681 



mony, stabbed himself. Thisbe, in the meantime, having recovered from 

 her fi'iglit, returned to the triste-trysting place, and when she saw her 

 faithful Pyramus in the last agonies of death, she fell upon the- sword with 

 which he had destroyed himself, and died likewise. 



"The poor mulberry tree, witness of such a melancholy catastrophe, 

 being sprinkled with their blood, ever afterwards bore red fruit instead of 

 white. Whether this change was produced by grief on the part of the 

 poor mulberry tree, or from some natural change incident to the absorption 

 of the blood in the soil, I am unable to say. Suffice it to say, that the 

 story is poetical, and as a natural consequence I fear lacks truth; though 

 be that as it may, I trust that if any of my young hearers should eat red 

 mulberries this coming summer, they will bear in mind their origin, and if 

 miserably happy will not do anything as rashly as our two lovers." 



The Sweet Bay or Laurus was the emblem of victory among the Greeks 

 and Romans, who crowned their victorious generals with wreaths made of 

 its leaves. They also bestowed similar wreaths or crowns upon their 

 greatest poets, hence the term poet-laureate. Mythological story tells us 

 that Daphne, a daughter of Peneus, flying to escape the embrace of Apollo, 

 ■who was smitten with her and pursued her, finding that she could not 

 escape from him, supplicated her mother earth to receive her, which she 

 did, and produced a tree in her stead. This so astonished Apollo that he 

 called the tree Daphne, and crowning himself with a sprig of it the plant 

 afterwards became a symbol of divination. It was also called Sophrosune, 

 for divination proceeds from chastity, and they believed th9,t where a bay 

 tree was planted demons would betake themselves to flight. The tree was 

 also consecrated to Apollo, and the first temple raised to him at Delphi is 

 said to have been made from the branches of this tree. 



The ancients also considered the bay tree good for the health, and had a 

 practice of making presents of dried figs and bay leaves on the first day 

 of the year; and it is to be noticed that in the packages of the choicest figs 

 which we now receive froui abroad there are always some bay leaves on 

 the top. 



Maia, the mother of Virgil, dreamt that she was delivered of a bay tree, 

 and we are told that one of these trees sprang from his ashes and is still 

 growing over his tomb. 



Unmarried men take their name of bachelor from the bay tree. As I 

 have already stated, poets were crowned with it, and so also, in the mid- 

 dle ages, were students who had taken their degrees at the Universities, 

 and were thence called in frcnch bacheliers, or laurel-berr^-ers, from the 

 berries being intermingled with the leaves in the wreaths; the word 

 bacheliers being derived from the latin word bacca laureus, a laurel berry. 

 Tiicso students were not allowed to marry for fear that the duties incum- 

 bent upon them as husbands or fathers would interfere with their studies, 

 and hence in time all single men came to be called bachelors. 



In holy writ the almond is called Shakad, a Hebrew word, signifying to 

 watch or awake, in allusion to its eaily blooming immediately after the 

 rigors of winter have passed away. 



Jeremiah says: "The word of the Lord came unto me, saying. Jeremiah, 

 what seest thou ? and I said, I sec a rod of an almond tree. Then said the 



