Literature and Art 6j 



THE APPLE HOLE 



DO you remember the apple hole in the garden 

 or back of the house, Ben Bolt ? In the fall 

 after the bins in the cellar had been well stocked 

 we excavated a circular pit in the warm mellow 

 earth, and covering the bottom with clean rye 

 straw, emptied in basketful after basketful of hardy 

 choice varieties, till there was a tent-shaped mound 

 .several feet high of variegated fruit. _ Then, wrap- 

 ping it about with a thick layer of long rye straw, 

 and tucking it up snug and warm, the mound was 

 covered with a thin coating of earth, a flat stone on 

 the top holding down the straw. As winter set in 

 another coating of earth was put upon it, with per- 

 haps an overcoat of coarse dry stable manure, and 

 the precious pile was left in silence and darkness 

 till- spring. *'*#* 



As the supply in the bins and barrels gets low 

 and spring approaches, the buried treasures in the 

 garden are remembered. With spade and axe we 

 go out and penetrate through the snow and frozen 

 earth till the inner dressing of straw is laid bare. 

 It is not quite as clear and bright as when we 

 placed it there last fall, but the fruit beneath, which 

 the hand soon exposes, is just as bright, and far 

 more luscious. 



From " Winter Sunshine" by John Burroughs. 



