THE HISTORY OF THE APPLE-TREE. 55 



ag^ approaching, have only to taste of to become 

 young again. It is in this manner that they will be 

 kept in renovated youth until Ragnarok &quot; (or the de 

 struction of the gods). 



I learn from Loudon 1 that &quot; the ancient Welsh 

 bards were rewarded for excelling in song by the 

 token of the apple-spray ; &quot; and &quot; in the Highlands 

 of Scotland the apple-tree is the badge of the clan 

 Lamont.&quot; 



The apple-tree belongs chiefly to the northern tem 

 perate zone. Loudon says, that &quot; it grows spontane 

 ously in every part of Europe except the frigid zone, 

 and throughout Western Asia, China, and Japan.&quot; 

 We have also two or three varieties of the apple in 

 digenous in North America. The cultivated apple- 

 tree was first introduced into this country by the 

 earliest settlers, and is thought to do as well or bet 

 ter here than anywhere else. Probably some of the 

 varieties which are now cultivated were first intro 

 duced into Britain by the Romans. 



Pliny, adopting the distinction of Theophiastus, 

 says, &quot; Of trees there are some which are altogether 

 wild, some more civilized.&quot; Theophrastus includes 

 the apple among the last; and, indeed, it is in this 

 sense the most civilized of all trees. It is as harm 

 less as a dove, as beautiful as a rose, and as valua 

 ble as flocks and herds. It has been longer culti 

 vated than any other, and so is more humanized ; and 

 who knows but, like the dog, it will at length be no 

 longer traceable to its wild original ? It migrates 

 with man, like the dog and horse and cow: first, 

 perchance, from Greece to Italy, thence to England, 



1 An English authority on ( : ne culture of orchards and gar 

 dens. 



