Apple Day in Quincy High School 



O. D. Frank 



In order to add interest to the Botany work we plan to do 

 some things that are "different" each year. Since Quincy is 

 located in a fruit producing section we have for a number of years 

 observed "Apple Day." The day, as Miss Bert has indicated in 

 her article, originated in Quincy. We are proud of good old Quincy, 

 with her seventeen beautiful parks, elm-canopied streets, the 

 Father of Water, "the orchards, the meadows, and the deep tang- 

 led wild woods" of the surrounding country, — enough to make one 

 poetic. 



We have several orchard kings, as we call them, who have taken 

 a kindly interest in our Botany classes; each year they assist us in 

 observing Apple Day by inviting us to their orchards, by furnish- 

 ing us with man)- varieties of apples, and by giving talks on the 

 subject of apples. Last fall we visited Mr. Charles Williamson's 

 orchard, and this spring Mr. Gustav Klarner invited us to visit 

 his orchard at apple blossom time. This year Mr. Leaton Irwin 

 invited us to be his guests on Apple Day. After studying the 

 apple as it grows in the orchard each student brought one dozen 

 or more apples to the laboratory and a display was arranged; 

 the Superintendent of Schools, the parents and members of the 

 faculty were invited to inspect the display. Appropriate plac- 

 ards were placed on the walls of the laboratory extolling the 

 virtues of the apple. A special table was prepared for the visi- 

 tors; apples, apple pie, apple cake and apple cider were served 

 and apple topics which had been prepared by the students were 

 given. 



The following are some of the subjects that were discussed: 

 "Origin of Apple Day." "The Economic Value of the Apple." 

 "Enemies of the Apple Orchard." "Spraying of the Trees." 

 "Ways of Preparing Apples." "Insect Pests." "The Unneces- 

 sary Waste in the Orchard." "The Apple Blossom as a National 

 Flower, etc." 



After completing our apple exhibit the apples were sent to Dr. 

 Caldwell, the author of our Botany text, who exhibited them at 

 the University of Chicago, later sending them to the John M. 

 Smyth School where the pupils studied them and wrote composi- 



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