Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1910-11-03
Mans Good Friend, the Apple.

| pIdNS ullllSS may OS iluoAlalSdO " bhN oP
pie. We could jot down off-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 so we have never given them
thought. AS boys we climbed the easy
trunks of the old trees, stole the wind
fall, and stoned the beauty way out on
the bending branch till it capitulated or
the man got after us.
And yet we should know lot about
this abundant product, as it 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 sta
pie article.
No fruit of today is of more ancient line
age, none more ariStocratic in associations
OF the past or more revered in remote
times; none that has responded more
luxuriouSly 70 the WleS OF cultivation.
That they were cultivated by the lake
dwellerS of Switzerland in the age OF
stone is proven by finding carbonized
specimens of two varieties, cut length
wise and dried, in the palatteS of the lakes
OF Neufchatel, Lombardy, and elsewhere.
The folklore of Germany and Scandinavia
is full Of apple trees and golden apples.
In Roman times their cultivation reached
high pitch the quality and productive
ness increased by grating.
We all recall the familiar biblical eX-
pressionS "Keep my law as the apple Of
thine eye" 81 raise thee up under an ap-
pie tree" "Apples of gold in pictures of
silver" Comfort me with apples" etc.
Shakespeare in "The Tempest makes
a character say "He will carry this is
land home in his pocket and give it to
his son for an apple" In Merchant Of
Venice" he likenS villain with smiling
cheek TO "a goodlY apple rotted at the
heart" Another of this poets references
identifies the pippin, which seems to
have been 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 thuc mixtures II
In Pliny'S time the Romans had twen-
ty-tWo varieties, and he asserted "There
are apples that have ennobled the coun
tries from whence they came our
best apples will immortalize their first
grafters forever"
The old Saxon coronation benediction
read "Bless, o Lord, the courage Of
this prince, and prosper the work Of his
hands and by the blessing may this land
be filed with apples with the fruit and
dew of heaven, from the top OF the an
cient mountain, from the apples OF the
eternal hills, from the fruits of the earth
and its fulneSS."
Apples were held in high honor and
reverence by the earliest inhabitants Of
Great Britain. On the eve OF Epiphany
the farmer and his workmen, with large
pitcher OF cider, went TO the orchard anc
there, encircling one OF the best trees,
drank the following toast:
"Here's to the old apple tree,
Whence thou maySt 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 !"
Early in the history of horticulture the
apple attracted by its improvabilty; that
is to say it belongs to the class of cul-
ture plants. Among other cultivated in
the middle ages were bitter sweets, men,
toned by Chaucer.
In 1858 there we're seventy-eight va
rietieS cultivated in the neighborhood OF
London-and since tnen there have been
developed 1000 varieties.
Generally speaking, the apple is indif-
ferent to locality it will grow anywhere.
1t has followed civilization in this country
from New England to the Pacific. If
we are to believe the story OF John Apple
Seed, il got part of the way far in ad-
vance of it.
John, so the legend goes, was SIM
plehearted body, who loved to roam
through the forests OF the northwest in
advance OF his fellows, conSorting alter
nately with the red man and the white.
He was esteemed by those who knew
him vagabond who just loafed. He had
his use in the world, however.
When among white folks he saved the
seeds of all the best apples he met with,
and carefully preserved and carried them
with him. When far away from his white
friends he would select an open spot OF
ground, prepare the soil and plant the
seeds, upon the principal, perhaps, ofthe
old Spanish custom that he owed so much
to posterity.
II is probable that the trees credited to
John Apple Seed were those planted by
the JeSuits.
Massachusetts and Connecticut grew
apples at an early period, and New York
received them from other states. In turn,
| Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa
took them from New York, and thus
gradually they meandered to California,
Washington, and Oregon, and now to