Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1909-02-13
MANS BEST FRIEND
THE LOVELY APPLE
Ages Fruit Has Supplied the
World With Food, Wealth
and Themes Of Poetry
and Prose

How little thought is given to com
mon-place things may b. illustrated
By he apple. We could Jot down of.
hand more facts about the date or fig
the olive, the banana, or the orange
To most Of Us APPLES are just apples
-big and little, red and green, fresh
and dried.
We have always been Intimate with
them, and 50 we have never given
them a thought. AS boys we climbed
the easy trunks OF the old trees, stol
en- the windfall, and stoned the beauty
way out on the bending branch till il
c~apltulated Or the man got after US,
And yet we should know a lot about
this abundant product, as 1t Is the
most important OF the temperate
zones; and, indeed, it is the only fruit
that has passed the bounds Of luxury
and become a staple article.
Apples OF Ancient Lineage.
No fruit of today is Of more ancient
lineage, none more aristocratlc in as
sociations of the past or o. rever-
ed in remote times; none that has
responded more luxuriously to the
wiles OF cultivation.
That they were cultivated" by the
lake dwellers of Switzerland in the
age of stone is proven by finding car
bombed specimens of two varieties,
cut lengthwise and dried, in the pal
attes of the lakes of Neufchatel,
Lombardy, and elsewhere. The folk
lore of Germany and Scandinavia Is
full of apple trees and golden apples.
In Roman times their cultivation
reached a high pitch; the quality n
productiveness increased by grating.
We all recall the familiar biblical
expressions; keep law as the apple
of thine eye," Il raise thee up under
an apple tree" Apples of gold in pic
lures of silver Comfort me with
apples" etc.
Shakespeare Praise for Fruit.
Shakespeare in "The Tempest
makes a character say: HE will
carry this island home in his pocket
and give it to his son for ans apple
In Merchant of Venice" he likens a
william with a smiling cheek to "a
goodly apple rotted at the heart An
other of this poets references iden-
titles the pippin, which seems TO have
been a superior variety, as thus:
you shall see mine orchard, where
in an arbor we will eat last years
pippins of my own grating"
Milton, as We remember, terms the
fruit of the tree of knowledge apples,
and Dore thus pictures it.
In Pliny's time the Romans had
twenty-five varieties, and he asserted;
"There are apples that have ennobled
the countries from whence they came
our best apples will immortalize
their first g~rafters forever"
The old Saxton coronation benedic-
ton read: "Bless, o Lord, the cour-
age of this prince. and prosper the
work of his hands; and by the bless
ing may this land be filled with apples
with the fruit and dew Of heaven,
from the top of the ancient mountain,
from the apples of the eternal hills,
from the fruits of the earth and its
f~ullness."
Britons Honor e Fruit.
Apples were hell in high honor and
reverence by the earliest Inhabitants
of Great Britain. On the I'VE of Epiph-
any the farmer and his workmen,
with a large pitcher Of cider. went to
the orchard and there, encireling one
OF the best trees, drank the following
toast:
Here's to the old apple tree,
Whence thou may'st budd and whence
thou may'st blow;
And whence thou may'st bear apples
enow;
Hats full! Caps full!
Observation-Disclosures full,
And my pockets full, too! Huzza!'
Number of Varieties Grown.
Early in the history OF horticulture
the apple attracted by its improvabil-
ity; that is to say. it belongs to the
class O ( culture plants. Among other
cultivated in the middle ages were bit.