ARBOR DA V MANUAL. 19 



PLANTING OF THE APPLE TREE. 



COME, let us plant the apple tree. 

 Cleave the tough greensward with the spade; 

 Wide let its hollow bed be made ; 

 There gently lay the roots, and there 

 Sift the dark mould with kindly care, 

 And press it o'er them tenderly 

 As, round the sleeping infant's feet, 

 We softly fold the cradle-sheet; 

 So plant we the apple tree. 



What plant we in this apple tree? 

 Buds, which the breath of summer days 

 Shall lengthen into leafy sprays : 

 Boughs where the thrush with crimson breast, 

 Shall haunt and sing and hide her nest; 



We plant upon the sunny lea, 

 A shadow for the noontide hour. 

 A shelter from the summer shower, 



When we plant the apple tree. 



What plant we in this apple tree? 

 Sweets for a hundred flowery springs 

 To load the May wind's restless wings, 

 When from the orchard row, he pours 

 Its fragrance through our open doors ; 



A world of blossoms for the bee, 

 Flowers for the sick girl's silent room, 

 For the glad infant sprigs of bloom, 



We plant with the apple tree. 



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. 



And when, above this apple tree, 

 The winter stars are quivering bright, 

 And winds go howling through the night, 

 Girls, whose young eyes o'erflow with mirth, 

 Shall peel its fruit by cottage hearth, 



