646 The y eternal of Forestry. 



a large bowl of cider, with toast in it, and carrying it in state to 

 the orchard, saluted the apple trees with much ceremony, in order to 

 make them bear well the next season. The song with which the 

 apple tree is saluted is thus given in Hone's " E very-day Book : " — 



" Here's to thee, old apple tree, 

 Whence thou may'st bud, and whence thou may'st blow, 

 And whence thou may'st bear apples enow. 

 Hats full ! caps full ! 

 Bushel — bushel — sacks full ! 

 And my pockets full too, 



Huzza ! " 



In Brand's " Popular Antiquities " the following is stated as 

 another mode of performing this charm : — The farmer and his work- 

 men go out into the orchard, after supper, on the eve of Twelfth-night, 

 with a large milk-pan full of cider, having roasted apples pressed into 

 it. Out of this each person in company takes what is called a 

 " clayen cup," that is, an earthen cup full of liquor; and standing 

 under each of the most fruitful of the apple trees, and passing by those 

 that are not good bearers, he addresses it in the following words : — 



" Health to thee good apple tree, 

 Well to bear pocketfuls, hatfuls, 

 Peckfuls, bushelbagfuls." 



and then drinking a part of the contents, he throws the rest, with 

 the fragments of the roasted apples, at the tree. At each cup the 

 company set up a shout. There are also numerous other customs 

 connected with apples, which there is not space to notice here, but 

 for the most part they will be found in the above-mentioned works. 



Concerning the ash, Virgil mentions that its fruit was considered 

 as sure to attract the thrush and blackbird to any grove where it 

 grew. In more modern times it was considered a preservative 

 against witchcraft. The superstitious in some parts still believe tliat 

 any small part of this tree, carried about them, will prove a sovereign 

 charm against all the dire effects of enchantments and witchcraft, and 

 their cattle also, as well as themselves, are supposed to be preserved by 

 it from evil. Gilpin mentions in his " Forest Scenery," that often in 

 his time a stump of the mountain ash was found in some old burying- 

 place, or near the circle of a Druids'. temple, the rites of which were 

 formerly performed under its shade ; and Evelyn mentions the custom 

 of planting this tree in Welsh churchyards as a preservative against 

 fascination and evil spirits. When in " Macbeth," the witch requests 

 chestnuts from the sailor's wife, her exclamation should be, as no doubt 

 Shakespeare wrote it, " A rowan tree, witch ! " and not " Aroint thee, 

 witch ! " which is a corruption, and the former reading has been 

 given by many conniientators. 



