196 Old Time Gardens 



like New England, the frequent absence of Apple 

 orchards makes these farm scenes unsatisfying, not 

 homelike. No other fruit trees can take their place. 

 An Orange tree, with its rich glossy foliage, its 

 perfumed ivory flowers and buds, and abundant 

 golden fruit, is an exquisite creation of nature ; but 

 an Orange grove has no ideality. All fruit trees 

 have a beautiful inflorescence few have senti- 

 ment. The tint of a blossoming Peach tree is per- 

 fect ; but I care not for a Peach orchard. Plantations 

 of healthy Cherry trees are lovely in flower and fruit 

 time, whether in Japan or Massachusetts, and a 

 Cherry tree is full of happy child memories ; but 

 their tree forms in America are often disfigured with 

 that ugly fungous blight which is all the more dis- 

 agreeable to us since we hear now of its close kin- 

 ship to disease germs in the animal world. 



I cannot see how they avoid having Apple trees 

 on these Long Island farms, for the Apple is fully 

 determined to stand beside every home and in every 

 garden in the land. It does not have to be invited; 

 it will plant and maintain itself. Nearly all fruits 

 and vegetables which we prize, depend on our plant- 

 ing and care, but the Apple is as independent as the 

 New England farmer. In truth Apple trees would 

 grow on these farms if they were loved or even 

 tolerated, for I find them forced into Long Island 

 hedge-rows as relentlessly as are forest trees. 



The Indians called the Plantain the " white man's 

 foot,'* for it sprung up wherever he trod ; the 

 Apple tree might be called the white man's shadow. 

 It is the Vine and Fig tree of the temperate zone, 



