THE HISTORY OF THE APPLE-TREE. 59 



and, to my mind, the apples always gain it. Pliny 

 says that apples are the heaviest of all things, and 

 that the oxen begin to sweat at the mere sight of a 

 load of them. Our driver begins to lose his load the 

 moment he tries to transport them to where they do 

 not belong, that is, to any but the most beautiful 

 Though he gets out from time to time, and feels of 

 them, and thinks they are all there, I see the stream 

 of their evanescent and celestial qualities going to 

 heaven from his cart, while the pulp and skin and 

 core only are going to market. They are not apples, 

 but pomace. Are not these still Iduna s apples, the ; 

 taste of which keeps the gods forever young? and 

 think you that they will let Loki or Thjassi carry 

 them off to Jotunheim, 1 while they grow wrinkled and 

 gray ? No, for Ragnarok, or the destruction of the 

 gods, is not yet. 



There is another thinning of the fruit, commonly 

 near the end of August or in September, when the 

 ground is strewn with windfalls ; and this happens 

 especially when high winds occur after rain. In some 

 orchards you may see fully three quarters of the whole 

 crop on the ground, lying in a circular form beneath 

 the trees, yet hard and green, or, if it is a hillside, 

 rolled far down the hill. However, it is an ill wind 

 that blows nobody any good. All the country over, 

 people are busy picking up the windfalls, and this 

 will make them cheap for early apple-pies. 



In October, the leaves falling, the apples are more 

 distinct on the trees. I saw one year in a neighboring 

 town some trees fuller of fruit than I remember to 



1 Jotunheim ( Ye(r}f-un-hime) in Scandinavian mythology was 

 the home of the Jb tun or Giants. Loki was a descendant of the 

 gods, and a companion of the Giants. Thjassi (Tee-assy} was a 

 giant. 



