THE APPLE MOTH. 125 



" But had nothing in the world to give her ; 

 And he said, consider, cow, consider." 



I 



It may have been the sight of the hay-band in this Plate that brought this old-cow 

 poetry to my recollection ; or it may have been the wormy apples under this tree that 

 I am so anxious the cows should have a chance to eat. The word '' consider" is very 

 appropriate here. And now let us go to work and " consider" this matter very 

 seriously. 



A young man is just starting in life. He has bought a farm that is to be the 

 permanent home of himself and wife. He has probably gone in debt. The parents 

 on both sides have contributed furniture, and horses and cows, and farming utensils. 

 A comfortable house has been built. But there is no orchard not a fruit tree on the 

 place. 'The catalogues of the nurserymen are pondered over by the young couple 

 every evening, and sometimes on Sundays. At length the trees are selected. The 

 best part of the farm is set apart for the orchard. The ground is ploughed deep, 

 thoroughly harrowed, and then staked out. The rows are made scrupulously straight 

 both ways. The holes are dug wide and deep, and partly filled with rich soil, or 

 well prepared compost or garden mould. Then the trees are to be bought and paid 

 for fifty or one hundred dollars cash. Next they are planted, and oh, what care is 

 taken that this shall be done exactly right. The young wife often goes out to help 

 in this labor of love. She holds the tree while her husband is down on his knees filling 

 in the earth about the roots with his hands. She reads the name on the label 

 " Sweet Bough." Perhaps there is a baby in the house ; and she says, " How the 

 baby will enjoy these apples when they are ripe !" The next is a Spitzenberg. And 

 she says, "How good these will be in the winter the long evenings and the pies !" 

 This young woman's mother was probably from Esopus, and had taught her daughter 

 to believe in Spitzenbergs for pies and apple dumplings. If the Spitzenberg was as 

 good in all parts of our country as it is in the neighborhood of its native place, it 

 would stand at the head of the list for such purposes. But in New England the 

 Greening is the favorite, while in Eastern Pennsylvania the old-fashioned Pennock is 

 very good or, at least, it was very good. 



This is the time of Promise. That orchard is most carefully cultivated year after 

 year with potatoes and other crops that will not injure the trees. No grain is ever 



