Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1876-01-22
APPLES AND CIDER.

advice.
APPLES AND CIDER.
From The Neto York Times
This is The apple eating season; but the
lovers OF that fruit are not having their usual
Enjoyment, for the crop was not only short.
but 1t was not well grown, and great pa ri
OF it was defective. Apples are poor this sea-
O. n, and dear, which is q matter of more Sc
suppose. Apples have become one OF ouI
staple articles Of export; but Ii is as q fruit
for kome consumption that they have most
rs ther scornfuily by many persons 1t is as
81 ciated with school-boy days, with rustic
h bits; Ii suggests munching, the smell of the
lace, or a slip upon the unfrieudly core flung
In the way Of the unwary walker. To eat
apples is rather mira dig. The gentlemen
c, entails before midday, would regard
with contempt an invitation to eat
an apple at that time, or indeed at any
many notion of assumed holiness, is very
uDwise. II may be safely said that, except
the various kinds of grain, there is no pro-
eood Sl tne al be ais county Is
is no mere palate pleaser; 1t is very nutri-
Gus. II affords fully as much nourishment
as the potatoe, which Is regarded as staple
article OF otd. What an cutlery goes up if
there is prospect of a failure In the potato
crop, and yet very little is said OF the chance
of dearth of apples, which shows a lack Of
~
1t more Lourishing than the potatoe, but [
contains acids, mild and gentle, as well as
pleasing TO the taste, which act in be. eicent
manner upon the whole animal economy.
An apple eater Is very rarely either dyspep-
tic or bilious. The apple is also tonic In
quality, and contains phosphorus In greater
There fore 1t is a most fitting and desirable
article of diet for us Americans who live in
such a state OF mental excitement, and are
SO indispOsed TO bodily exertiop. 1t feeds the
brain and stimulates the III ypr which fs i'm
what we need.
Nature, as If knowing that such would be
our national temperament and such our by =
gienic leeds, has given the apple in this
country a development which 10 has attained
nowhere else. There are no apples to be COM
pared with American apples, either in size
or in flavor. This fruit is one of the few things
that we brought from England which have
improved upon our roll. Its excellence is so
great here and so peculiar that IL may be al
most called our national fruit. And vet there
are signs that its cultivation is falling in to
neglect The apple orchards which lay around
the old farm houses, beautifying them In the
spring and enrlching them in the autumn,
are dying out, or have died out, and no suffi-
cient measures seem to have been taken to
supply their places. The greening the pip
pin, the spitZenberg, and other varieties
almost worthy to be named with them, are
diminishing in numbers and deteriorating in
quality; and those which are offered instead
of them are coarse, flashy things, lacking
flavor and substance. The fruit growers at
tention seems of late to be concentrated upon
the pear, which takes very great airs UPON
itelf, 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, admitting the de
I1ciOusness OF the pear, aud giving 10 all the
high respect which is its due, we Sho uld not
fOlg get that for Its real worth IL is not To be
named with the apple. The pear is a mere
luxury of the palate, having to be sure, the
desirable stomachic qualities that belong to
all fresh acid fruits. But the apple has SUD-
staniial merits. IL is food, nOurishing and
stin ulatiDg both 10 mind and body. lt is "A
domestic fruit; homely, yet rich aud beau
tiful and vigorous, like so many homeiy
things, among them the hOmely graces and
virtues. IL is the roast beef of fruits, We
the strawberry in its season, than we could
spare the apple. And yet the straw berry is
merely ephemeral; the apple lasts the year
round, TO feed us and TO cheer us by its pecu
liar corrective and stimulating qualities.
Moreover, the apple produces cider, a bev-
eTage which ought 10 be far more commonly
used and more cheaply obtained than ii is.
Good cider used TO be as common in the
Northern Atlantic states, and particularly
IN New England and in New Jersey, as go ID
mllB-almOSt as good water. 1t was drunk
daily, as generally three times a day, not
only by the rural population, but by thOs,
in the towns. IL was cheap, so cheap that
the poorest people drank IL. Now good cider
Is the rarest beverage that one can search for.
IL Is almost uDnDdable; and, when found, il
is very dear, costing about three times as
much as wine does in the wine countries OF
Europe. This ought not to be, and 1t need
not be. Cider has qualities which make IL.
In me deTation, d most desirable beverage
for Us, and IL has virtues which give
il a very great and a specific value
l. one OF the most painful and distress
log diseases TO which the male sex is
subjt CT. But the cider that is generally of.
f~Ied is not ht for any one to drink. 1t is
made without care, of refuse apples, the de.
cay In which is TO be plainly tasted in their
Juice, even after fermentation. 1t is neglect
ed, and b. comes sour and offensive. The con-
sequence is that there is prospect of its dis
apo al ar ce in the wake of perry, a beverage
made from pear juice, of which most of our
readers probably never heard, and which
probably none Of them ever tasted. They
have not lost much. 1t is not 10 be named
with cider In flavor or In any other good
quality, and we sincerely hope that the pear
is not TO have its revenge by driving out the
cider producing fruit. We know that apple
orchards are slow in reaching maturity, but
the production of good apples in such guam
tity as TO make them cheap, could not fail 10
be remunerative TO the fruit grower. The
need which the apple supplies can be sup
piled by no other fruit-we may say almost
by no other vegetable product.