262 AROUND AN OLD HOMESTEAD. 



Mr. Burroughs thinks it a sure sign of age when 

 a man no longer cares for apples, and in another of 

 his papers says that his old hollow apple-tree, unlike 

 most persons, always wears "a girdle of perpetual 

 youth" in the new green ring which annually surrounds 

 its trunk. 



Bryant has a poem entitled "The Planting of the 

 Apple-Tree," this stanza of which is especially sug- 

 gestive : 



" What plant we in this apple-tree? 

 Fruits that shall swell in sunny June, 

 And redden in the August noon, 

 And drop, when gentle airs come by, 

 That fan the blue September sky, 



While children come, with cries of glee, 

 And seek them where the fragrant grass 

 Betrays their bed to those who pass 



At the foot of the apple-tree." 



In Holland's "Bitter-Sweet," again, is another fine 

 description of the varieties of apples in the bins near 

 the barrels of cider in the cellar, as follows : 



" That is a barrel of russets ; 

 But we can hardly discuss its 



Spheres of frost and flint, 

 Till, smitten by thoughts of spring, 

 And the old tree blossoming, 



Their bronze takes a yellower tint, 



And the pulp grows mellower in 't. 

 But oh ! when they 're sick with the savors 



Of sweets that they dream of, 

 Sure, all the toothsomest flavors 



They hold the cream of ! 



" Those are the Rhode Island greenings ; 

 Excellent apples for pies : 



