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have each its attractions, bul at every fruit show the 

 apple will always bear the palm of superiority for the 

 greatest difference in brilliant colors in their various at- 

 tractive combinations. Even the citrus fruits, of which 

 the orange is a type, though attractive to the eye, are 

 limited in their coloring to two or three shades of uniform 

 orange and yellow. 



Again, do we appreciate our apples for the variety of 

 delicious odors which they exhale that are grateful to the 

 sense of smell beyond those from any other fruit, not 

 even the quince excepted. Is there, the wide world over, 

 to be found a more delicious fruit odor than that which 

 fills the air from a freshly opened barrel of the Red Astra- 

 can apples ? The store of the fruit dealer exhales a richer 

 fragrance than the shop of the apothecary, who is sup- 

 posed to deal in perfumes directly from " Araby the 

 Blest." No, we do not appreciate, and, therefore, do not 

 enjoy half as much as we may the characteristic fragrance 

 belonging to many varieties of the apple. A lady friend 

 was in the habit of keeping a dish of the Red Astracan 

 in her parlor, as long as they were in season, and to every 

 one who entered it their delicate boquet was a delightful 

 surprise. I keep one or two apples in my drawer with 

 writing materials, not to eat, but to catch the rich odor as 

 I open it. They 'remind me of the fragrance which comes 

 from pansies growing in a cold frame, when the sash is 

 raised. 



Not only is it the province of the fruit to afford us 

 other enjoyments than that which comes through the 

 sense of taste (for if not, why then did the Creator 

 bestow upon it color and fragrance ?), but it is the sphere 

 of the tree itself to administer to the esthetic side of our 

 natures. Is there any tree in the vegetable kingdom of 

 the north temperate zone so beautiful as an apple tree in 

 bloom? The peach, the plum, the cherry and the pear, 

 each are beautiful, but in the three former it is a mere 

 mass of dead color, while in the latter the blossoms are all 

 white, besides being disagreeable in their odor, but those 

 of the apple, in various shades of delicate pink in the 



