30 THE APPLE. 
and sinks his shafts here and there in the garnered 
wealth of the orchards, mining for his favorites, some< 
times coming plump upon them, sometimes catching a 
glimpse of them to the right or left, or uncovering 
them as keystones in an arch made up of many varie- 
ties. 
In the dark he can usually tell them by the sénse 
of touch. There is not only the size and shape, but 
there is the texture and polish. Some apples are coarse- 
grained and some are fine; some are thin-skinned and 
some are thick. One variety is quick and vigorous 
beneath the touch ; another gentle and yielding. The 
pinnock has a thick skin with a spongy lining, a bruise 
in it becomes like a piece of cork. The tallow apple 
has an unctuous feel, as its name suggests. It sheds 
water like a duck. What apple is that with a fat 
curved stem that blends so prettily with its own flesh, 
—the wine-apple? Some varieties impress me as 
masculine, — weather-stained, freckled, lasting and 
rugged ; others are indeed lady apples, fair, delicate, 
shining, mild-flavored, white-meated, like the egg-drop 
and lady-finger. The practiced hand knows each kind 
by the touch. 
Do you remember the apple hole in the garden or 
back of the house, Ben Bolt? In the fall after the 
bins in the cellar had been well stocked, we excavated 
a circular pit in the warm, mellow earth,and covering 
the bottom with clean rye straw, emptied in basketful 
after basketful of hardy choice varieties, till there was 
a tent-shaped mound several feet high of shining 
variegated fruit. Then wrapping it about with a thick 
layer of long rye straw, and tucking it up snug and 
warm, the mound was covered with a thin coating of 
earth, a flat stone on the top holding down the straw. 
nae ee ee 
Per 
