Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1876-01-21

lovers of that fruit are not having their
usual enjoyment, for the crop was not only
short but it was not we'll grown, and a
great part of it was defective. Apples are
poor this season, and dear, which is q mat
Ter of more serious consequence than many
persons would suppose. Apples have be-
come one of our staple articles of export;
but it is as fruit for home consumption
that they have most importance. Apple
eating is looked upon rather scornfully by
many persons. 1t is associated with school,
boy days, with rustic habits; it suggests
munching, the smell of the peel upon the
stove, the seed snapped in the face, or
slip upon the unfriendly core dung in the
way of the unwary walker. To eat apples
is rather mira dig. The gentlemen who
take whiskey, straight or crooked, or gin
cock tails before midday, would regard
with contempt an invitation to eat an APP
pie at that time, or indeed at any other
hour Of the twenty-four. But this, like
many a notion of assumed holiness, is very
unwise. 1t may be safely said that, except
the various kinds of grain, there is no
product Of the earth in this country which
is so good for food as the apple. This no.
BILE fruit is no mere palate-pleaser; it is
very nutritious. II affords fully as much
nourishment as the potato, which is re-
garded as a staple article of food. What an
cutlery goes up if there is prospect of fail
ure in the potato crop; and yet very little
is said of the chance OF a dear!h of apples,
which shows lack Of a true appreciation
of the fruit. Not only is it more nourish-
ipcx l,n I,,,t al de
mild and gentle, as well as pleasing to the
taste, which act in beneficent manner up
on the whole animal economy. An apple
eater is very rarely either dyspeptic or bill
ious. The apple is also tonic in quality,
and contains phosphorus in greater quanti-
ty than any other vegetable does. There
fore it is most fitting and desirable arti-
Gle of diet for us Americans, who live in
such state of mental excitement, and are
so indisposed TO bodily exertion. 1t feeds
the brain and stimulates the liver, which
is just what we need.
Nature, as if knowing that such would
be our national temperament and such our
hygienic needs, has given the apple in this
country development which it has at
tanned nowhere else. There are no apples
to be compared with American apples, Ell
Their in size or in flavor. This fruit is one
Of the few things that We brought from
England which have improved upon our
soil It's excellence is so great here and so
peculiar that it may be almost called our
national fruit And yet there are signs
that its cultivation is falling into neglect.
The apple orchards which lay around the
old fart III ii In ha
Spring, and enriching them in the Au-
tumn, are dying out, or have died out,
and no sufficient measures seem TO have
been taken to supply their places. The
greening, the pippin, the spitzenberg, and
other varieties almost worthy TO be named
with them, are diminishing in numbers
and deteriorating in quality; and those
which we are offered In place of them are
coarse, fiashy things, lacking both flavor
and substance. The fruit-grower's at!en-
ton seems of late to be concentrated upon
the pear, which takes very great airs upon
itself, both at the fruiter's and upon the
table. 1t is coddled and wrapped up, and
has very high and mighty names given to
il, and is very costly; and consequently it
seems to be elbowing the apple out of the
market. This is to be deplored; for, adj
hitting the deiciousness of the pear, and
giving to it all the high respect which is its
due, we should not forget that for real
worth 1t is not to be named with the apple.
The pear is a mere luxury Of the palate,
having, 10 be sure, the desirable stomachic
qualities that belong to all fresh acid fruits.
But the apple has su bstantial merits. II is
food, nourishing and stimulating both to
mind and body. 1t is domestic fruit;
hOmely, yet rich and beautiful and vigor-
Gus, like so many homely things, among
them the homely graces and virtues. 1t is
the roast beef of fruits. We could better
spare them all, except perhaps the straw
berry in its season, than we could spare
the apple. And yet the strawberry is
merely ephemeral; the apple lasts the year
round, 10 feed us and to cheer us by its Pc
euliar corrective and stimulating qualities.
Moreover, the apple produces cider,
beverage which ought TO be far more COM
monty used and more cheaply obtained
than it is. Good cider used to be as COM
mon in the Northern Atlantic States, and
particularly in New England and in New
Jersey, as good milk-almoSt as good wa
three times a day, not only by the rural
population, but by those in the towns. 1t
was cheap, so cheap that the poorest
people drank it. Now good cider is the
rarest beverage that one can search for
1t is almost unfndable; and whom found
1t is very dear, costing about three times as
much as wine does in the wine countries
of Europe. This ought not to be, and it
need not be. Cider has qualities which
make 1t, in moderation, most desirable
beverage for us; and 1t has virtues which
give it very great and specific value in
one Of the most painful and distressing dis
eases to which the male sex Is subject.
But the cider that is generally offered is
not fit for any one to drink. 1t is made
without care, of refuse apples, the decay in
which is plainly TO be tasted in their juice
even after fermentation. It is neglected,
and becomes sour and offensive. The con-
sequence is that there is prospect Of its
disappearance in the wake OF perry, a bev-
erage made from pear-juce, OF which most
Of our readers probably never heard, aud
which probably none Of them ever tasted.
They have not lost much. II Was not 10
be named with cider In favor or in aDy