78 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



THE DOMESTIC VALUE OF THE APPLE. 

 B}' Mrs. Florence J. Bicker, Turner. 



Long, long ago God placed two happy sinless beings in the 

 Garden of Eden. Everything about them showed the handiwork of 

 a Divine Being, from the tiniest flower to the abundance of delicious 

 fruit. All this loveliness was to be theirs to enjoy with the exception 

 of one tree, the fairest so it seemed to them of all, of which they 

 were forbidden^to partake. But the tempter came and said to the 

 woman, "The fruit of this tree is fair to look upon and its aroma 

 is>s the nectar of the gods, so if you but eat of it you may, like 

 them, know good^aud evil." Then the woman did eat and saw that 

 it was good, and did offer to her husband and he did eat, and for 

 this one disobedient act, they lost their beautiful home in the Garden 

 of Eden and were banished to a life of toil, sorrow and suffering. 



You ask, why do you tell that old story of the fall of man ? Has 

 it any connection to the present subject, "The Domestic Value of 

 the Apple?" 



This was the first family formed on earth, and here we find as 

 believed by most persons, the apple to figure largely in their 

 domestic happiness. It was not that the apple was inferior to other 

 fruits that it is supposed to have been chosen as a test of their 

 faithfulness to their Creator, but rather that it was the King of 

 Fruits, so that the temptation being greater it would be a more per- 

 fect test whether they preferred to obey God or satisfy their own 

 selfish desires.' 



We find accounts that apples were cultivated by the Romans and 

 that they had a number of varieties ; it is also believed that they 

 introduced the apple into England. Pliny mentions twenty varie- 

 ties. Early chronicles are silent as regards the propagation of the 

 apple until after the establishment of Christianty when the monks 

 and religious leaders planted orchards. In the time of Solomon we 

 find Christ referred to by him, "As the apple tree among the trees 

 of the wood, so is my beloved among the sous, I sat down under 

 his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste," 

 showing how highly the apple was prized at that time. 



The early settlers of America brought over the apple tree with 

 them from England and planted many orchards, and from them the 

 Indians started orchards throughout the country. One of these old 



