1 8 Fruits and Fruit- Trees. 



is cider. No one ever tires of the apple. It is to fruits 

 in general what good wheaten bread is to other accus- 

 tomed food. While it satisfies it never cloys. There is 

 no time of life, either, when the apple becomes a super- 

 fluity, or is no longer suitable as aliment. As for boys 

 and girls in fair health, for them the apple would almost 

 seem to have been primarily created. There is a period 

 in the life of children when they are hungry all over, 

 voracious at every pore. Eat they must and will, flying 

 to cakes and mischievous sweets, candies, and confec- 

 tions, unless judiciously supplied with what is really 

 wholesome. Bread is deficient in savour. Fruit, fully 

 ripened and of simple kinds, is the happy medium, and 

 in no shape is it better for them than that of the apple. 

 The tree itself is recommended by its hardiness it 

 thrives wherever the oak will flourish ; by the ease with 

 which it accommodates itself to every diversity of soil 

 and situation our island affords very good apples are 

 ripened in the Orkneys, and even in Shetland and by 

 the comparatively late season of the bloom, so that a fair 

 crop can always be calculated upon. In Britain no fruit 

 can be brought to so high a degree of excellence with so 

 little trouble, though pains taken in apple-culture never 

 go without plentiful reward : the fruit is infinitely varied 

 in flavour, and in the comeliness that ensues upon change 

 of form and colour ; and to complete the pleasant list of 

 virtues and good qualities, there is the longevity, and, 

 increasing with age, the gracious fertility. The potential 

 life of an apple-tree is quite a hundred and fifty years. 



