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their reputed arguments fly as chaff before the winds, 

 melt away into nought as the mist before the genial 

 rays of the sun, in the light of the incontrovertible 

 facts they would obtain. They would illumine the 

 prejudices of their darkened illiterate minds. Their 

 "museums " would be empty, and they would become 

 practical ornithologists, then enabled to behold with 

 delight the combined grace and elegance of the 

 movement in mid-air of the birds which before they 

 saw but to shoot. And what is more, their pre- 

 serves would be stocked with healthier birds. 



Were keepers to proceed in a proper manner, they 

 need experience no fear from hawks, and their woods 

 would be filled with finer game. Farmers would not 

 have to employ lads to frighten away sparrows 

 [Passer domesticus) and other birds from destroying 

 the ripening grain. The sparrowhawk, nature's own 

 gift, would more effectually do this. Why is it that 

 such birds as sparrows (not, indeed, that I proclaim 

 the ban of extermination against them, because, 

 without doubt, in reasonable numbers they are bene- 

 ficial in their way) are so superabundant ? We need 

 not look far for a reply. The balance of nature is dis- 

 turbed, nay, her equilibrium is upset, and behold the 

 consequence, witness the result. Granted that the 

 sparrowhawk does occasionally feast on game, that 

 it sometimes makes a meal off a chicken. Frighten 

 it with a blank charge, restrain it in this habit. If 

 you leave your house unguarded, will not the burglars 

 enter? Watch it, and it will soon cease to reiterate 

 its visits. Or, if it does come, it will confine itself 

 to the hosts of noisy sparrows which usually con- 

 gregate in the stackyard. And what if it does on 

 rare occasions feed on a partridge {Perdrix cincrea) ? 

 What if it flies off with a young pheasant? Who is 

 there who will shoot the wary fox, even though he 

 steals a whole tribe of geese and ducks ? All that is 

 required is watchful care and vigilant attention. 

 Keepers of the woods, divest yourselves of selfish 

 prejudice, or the wrong will recoil on your own heads. 

 Learn to study the economy of this bird, and you 

 will find that most of the stolen game you attribute to 

 a winged thief has been taken by a weasel or a fox, 

 or other of the four-legged tribe which inhabit the 

 recesses of your domains. 



( To be continued.) 



THE HISTORY OF THE APPLE-TREE. 

 By H. G. Glasspoole. 



THE early history of the apple-tree is very ancient, 

 connected as it is with so many legends of 

 remote antiquity. In former days this tree was sup- 

 posed to have been the tree of knowledge, to whose 

 fruit may be traced all the miseries of mankind, and 

 our first mother, Eve, is generally represented, in the 

 pictures of the temptation, holding an apple in her 

 hand ; this is not, however, particularised in the 



Bible. The apple is only mentioned five times in the 

 Scriptures, and it is a disputed point if the fruit 

 referred to was the same as the apple of the present 

 day. The climate of Palestine is unfitted for the 

 cultivation of this tree except in the higher regions. 

 In the mythologies of the Greeks, the Scandinavians 

 and Druids, we find the apple-tree mentioned. The 

 golden fruit of the Hesperides, which it was one of 

 the labours of Hercules to procure, in spite of the 

 fierce dragon that guarded them and never slept, 

 were said to be apples, though modern writers suppose 

 them to be oranges. 



The Thebans used to offer apples on the altars 

 dedicated to Hercules, a custom derived from the 

 following circumstance : on one occasion the river 

 Asopus overflowed its banks to such an extent that 

 it was found impossible to bring a sheep for sacrifice 

 across it, when some youths, recollecting that the 

 Greek word "melon " signified both sheep and an apple, 

 stuck four wooden pegs into the fruit to represent legs, 

 and brought this vegetable quadruped as a substitute 

 for the usual offering, after which, the apple was 

 always considered as especially devoted to Hercules. 

 The late Mrs. Bayle Bernard, in her work on our 

 common fruits, gives the following amusing de- 

 scription of the Scandinavian legend of the apple ; 

 after having spoken of the Eastern story of the for- 

 bidden fruit, she says : "When we come to the cold 

 Norse regions, far from the land where the citron 

 blows, we can have no doubts as to the real pippinism 

 of those apples of immortality kept by the fair Iduma, 

 by regaling on which, the gods of the Edda were 

 wont to renew their youth ; the wicked Loke stole 

 and hid away both the maiden and her fruit, leaving 

 the bereaved divinities to pine away, losing their 

 vigour both of body and mind, and neglecting the 

 affairs of heaven and earth until mortals deprived of 

 celestial supervision, fell into all manner of evil ; and 

 it almost happened that for the want of an apple the 

 world was lost." Well was it, that at last, summoning 

 all that remained of their expiring energies, they 

 succeeded in forcing the robber to restore those 

 precious pomes on which the welfare of both realms 

 depended. 



Leaving the realms of fiction, and the mythological 

 tales of the ancients, let us turn to those accounts 

 which prove that this fruit is one of the most ancient 

 on record. Dr. Heer states that carbonised apples and 

 pears have been found in the Lake dwellings dis- 

 covered at Concise in Lake Neufchatel and other 

 similar localities in Switzerland. Apples were more 

 numerous than pears ; both are of a small kind, but 

 resemble those which still grow wild in the Swiss 

 forests. However, specimens have occurred which 

 are of a larger size, these were probably cultivated, 

 (Sir John Lubbock, " Prehistoric Times.") 



Greece in ancient days, we are told, produced most 

 excellent apples, the island of Euboea enjoyed an 

 extraordinary reputation for this fruit (see " Athen." 



