138 THE APPLE. 



It differs materially from the Pear-tree in shape, and is 

 characterised by its crooked and knotty branches, which, 

 if the tree is growing in an open space, spread equally on 

 all sides, and give to it an irregularly hemispherical form. 

 The leaves are generally wider in proportion to their length 

 than those of the Pear, less pointed, and, slightly downy 

 beneath. The fruit may readily be distinguished by 

 having its base, at the insertion of the stem, concave ; that 

 of the Pear being always convex. The branches are, both 

 in the wild and cultivated states, destitute of thorns. It 

 grows wild in most countries of Europe, and in Western 

 Asia, China, and Japan. 



Improved varieties of the Apple appear to have been in 

 cultivation from a very remote period. To the Greeks 

 and Romans it was well known. Mention of it occurs 

 also in the Septuagint, as well as in the Authorized Version 

 of the Holy Bible; but the fruit there alluded to is now 

 thought, and with great propriety, to be the Citron, which 

 accords well with the description given in the Sacred 

 Volume, and arrives at great perfection in Syria, whereas 

 the Apple does not. The absurd legend, that the fruit 

 of the forbidden tree was the Apple, has probably given 

 rise to the numerous superstitions respecting this tree, 

 which appear under various disguises in the mythology of 

 the Greeks 1 and Druids. The latter also looked on it 

 with great veneration, from its being frequently clothed 

 with Mistletoe. In certain parts of the country super- 

 stitious observances yet linger, such as drinking health to 

 the trees on Christmas and Epiphany eves, saluting them 

 by throwing roasted crabs or toast from the wassail-bowl 

 to their roots, dancing and singing round them, lighting- 

 fires, &c. All these ceremonies are supposed to render the 

 trees productive for the coming season. 



I once had occasion to pass the night preceding Twelfth- 

 day at a lone farmhouse on the borders of Dartmoor, in 



1 The fable of the dragon which guarded the golden apples in the 

 Garden of the Hesperides is probably derived from this source. 



