The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1882-02-04


apple. How could we winter over without
it How is life sweetened by its mild
acids cellar well filed with apples is
more valuable than a chamber filled with
flax and wool SO much sound ruddy life
to draw upon, to strike ones roots down
into, as it were.
The apple is full of sugar and mucilage,
which make it highly nutritious. 1t Is
said 'sThe operators of Cornwall, England,
consider ripe apples nearly as nourishing
as bread, and far more so than potatoes.
In the year 1801-which was year of
much scarcity apples, instead of being
converted into cider, were sold to the poor,
and the laborers asserted that they could
stand their work ON baked apples without
meat whereas potato diet required either
meat or some other substantial nutriment.
The French and Germans use apples ex-
tensively, so do the inhabitants Of all Eu-
ropean nations. The laborers depend upon
them as an article of food, and frequently
make a dinner of sliced apples and bread. :"
Yet the English apple is tame and
insipid affair." compared with the intense,
sun-colored and sun-steeped fruit our Or
chards yield. The best thing know about
Chill is this fact which learn from Dar-
wins "Voyage," namely, that the apple
thrives well there Darwin saw town
there 50 completely buried in wood of
apple=trees, that its streets We're merely
paths in an orchard; The tree indeed
thrives so we'll, that large branches cut off
in the spring and planted two or three feet
deep in the ground send out roots and de-
velop into fine full-bearing trees by the third
year. The people know the value of the
apple, too They make cider and wine Of
it and then from the refuse a white and
finely favored spirit then by another pro-
cess sweet treacle is obtained called honey.
The children and pigs ate little or no other
food. He does not add that the people
are healthy and temperate, but | have no
doubt they are.
The apple is the commOnest and yet
the most varied and beautiful of fruits, A
dish of them is as becoming to the center
table in winter as was the vase of flowers
in the summer-a bouquet of spitzenbergs
and greetings and northern spies. A rose
when it blooms, the apple is rose when it
ripens. 1t pleases every sense to which it
can be addressed, the touch, the smell,
the sight, the taste; and when it falls in
the still October days it pleases the ear 1t
is call to banquet, it is a signal that the
feast is ready.
How they resist the cold holding out
almost as long as the red cheeks of the boys
do. A frost that destroys the potatoes and
other roots only makes the apple more crisp
and vigorous; they peep out from the
chance November SHOWS unscathed. When
[ see the fruit vender ON the street corner
stamping his feet and beating his hands to
keep them warm, and his naked apples ly-
ing exposed to the blasts, [ wonder if they
do not ache, too, to clap their hands and
enliven their circulation. But they can
stand it nearly as long as the vender can.
The boy is indeed the true apple-eater,
and is not to be questioned how he came
by the fruit with which his pockets are fill
ed 1t belongs to him, and he may steal it
if it cannot be had in any other way. His
own juicy flesh Graves the juicy flesh of the
apple. Sap draws sap, His fruit-eating
has little reference to the state of his appe-
tite Whether he be full of meat or empty
of meat he wants the apple just the same.
Before meal or after meal it never comes
amiss. The farm-boy munches apples all
day long. He has nests of them in the
hay-mow, mellowing, to which he makes
frequent visits Sometimes old Rrindle,
having access through the open door, smells
them out and makes short work of them.
In northern mythology the giants eat
apples to keep off old age. The apple is
indeed the fruit of youth. Aswe grow old
we crave apples less. 1t is an ominous
sign. When you are ashamed to be seen
eating them on the street; when you can
carry them in your pocket and your hand
not constantly find its way to them when
your lunch-basket is without them and you
can pass winters night by the freside
with no thought of the fruit at the elbow :
then be assured you are no longer boy,
either in heart or years.
The genuine apple-eater comforts him
self with an apple in their season as others
with a pipe or cigar. When he has moth
ing else to do, or is bored, he eats an ap-
pie. While he is waiting for the train he
eats an apple, sometimes several Of them.
When he takes walk he arms himself
with apples. His traveling=bag is full of
apples. He offers an apple to his compan-
ion and takes one himself, They are his
chief solace when on the road He sows
their seed all along the route. He tosses
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top of the stage-coach. He would, in time,
make the land one vast orchard. He dis
penses with knife. He prefers that his
teeth shall have the first taste. Then he
knows the best flavor is Immediately be-
meath the skin, and that in pared apple
this is lost If you will stew the apple,
he says, instead of baking it, by all means
leave the skin on. 1t improves the color
and vastly heightens the flavor of the dish.
How the early settlers priced the apple
When their trees broke down or were split
asunder by the storms, the neighbors turned
out, the divided tree was put together
again and fastened with iron bolts. In
some of the oldest orchards one may still
occasionally see large dilapidated tree
with the rusty iron bolt yet visible Poor,
sour fruit, too, but sweet in those earl y
pioneer days.
Emerson, believe, has spoken of the
apple as the social fruit of the Middle States.
Indeed, what promoter or abettor of So
cial intercourse among our rural population
the apple has been,-the company growing
more merry and unrestrained as soon as
the basket of apples was passed round.
When the cider followed, the introduction
and good understanding were complete.
Ours is eminently country of the or
chard. Horace Greeley said he had seen
no land in which the orchard formed such
a prominent feature in the rural and agri-
cultural districts. Nearly every farmhouse
in the Eastern and Middle states has its
setting or its background of apple-trees,
which generally date back to the first set
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