DECIDUOUS TREES. 427 



sound trunks three feet in diameter. Fig. 139 is a portrait of a 



remarkable apple tree growing in a 



low pasture-field on the flats of 



Mamaroneck, N. Y., but little above 



the level of high tide. Its top is 



sixty feet in diameter, and thirty feet 



high. The vignettes of Chapters VIII 



and XVI, and the cut at the end of 



Chapter II, illustrate some of the home-pictures to which apple 



trees contribute a principal charm. 



In its early growth the apple tree has only the beauty of thrift 

 and blossoms. It is then too round and even, in the ramification 

 of its branches, to have much play of light and shade in the breaks 

 of its foliage. Only the old trees develop noble horizontal branches 

 and massive shadows ; and it is for such that we ask the most lov- 

 ing protection. From the time the tree is out of bloom till the 

 fruit begins to color, it is certainly inferior to some of the maples, the 

 horse-chestnut, the hickories, and many other trees, in wealth of 

 verdure, variety of outline, and contrast of light and shade. But 

 then what a crown it bears a few months later, of golden or ruddy 

 fruit, beautiful as blossoms ! The apple tree need never be dis- 

 carded from the decorated grounds of any one who will keep his 

 lawn closely shaven, and clean of falling fruit. Without such care 

 the wind-falls and worm-falls of fruit will soon breed corruption in 

 the grass, and new crops of insects to attack the fruit the following 

 season. The beauty and usefulness of a thrifty old tree is well 

 worth this care. 



Notwithstanding we place so high a value on old apple trees for 

 home-grounds, we would not, on quite small grounds, plant them 

 for ornament ; since it is only after the tree has been growing from 

 twenty to forty years that it assumes its most pleasing expression. 

 Other trees will develop beauty much more rapidly. For fruit, ex- 

 cept on large lots, the cherry, the pear, the grape, and the different 

 berry shrubs yield far more value, in proportion to the room they 

 occupy. Apples are always cheaper to buy than the smaller fruits, 

 and the trees take up so much room, that we would only plant 

 them on lots where the ground devoted to orchard is a half acre or 



