UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 



up out of the top of the stalk, bold, rigid, conspicu- 

 ous, rustic-looking, — *' topping out," as the farm- 

 ers say, — and then, following down the stalk with 

 my eye, see among the leaves the female blossom 

 timidly putting out her delicate silk fringe, like a 

 lock of greenish-golden hair, — one tender thread for 

 each kernel of corn that is to be, — and awaiting the 

 caresses through the agency of the wind of her suitor 

 above, I am witnessing one of the most pleasing 

 illustrations of Nature's great law that is to be seen 

 in our fields and gardens. 



In the case of no other tree in our Northern for- 

 ests does the male principle assert itself so conspicu- 

 ously as in the chestnut — a tree that now, alas! 

 seems in danger of extinction from some obscure 

 fungus disease attacking its inner bark. In early 

 summer its masses of creamy- white staminate flow- 

 ers make the top of the woods gay, while its small, 

 modest, greenish female flowers are seen only by him 

 who closely searches for them. But the gala day of 

 the males is brief, while the obscure mother-bloom 

 goes forward and develops her polished triple nuts 

 of autumn. 



The odors of the blooming corn and blooming 

 chestnut in some way suggest fruition and the sex 

 passion. 



In the hazel, masculine and feminine contrast in 

 the same way as in the chestnut. The long, showy, 

 pollen-yielding tassels are seen from afar, but the 



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