APPLES, PEACHES, PLUMS AND QUINCES. 21 



APPLES, PEACHES, PLUMS AND QUINCES. 



The Pyrus Malus of botanists, the " Apfel " of the Dutch, 

 from which our Anglo-Saxon ancestors coined the word as 

 now used, apple, has been celebrated as a choice fruit in the 

 north temperate zone from the earliest periods of authentic 

 history. 



Whether the mysterious, allegorical tree in the garden of 

 Eden bore apples, 



Whose mortal taste 

 Brought death into the world, and all our wo, 

 With loss of Eden, 



or not, is a subject of less importance now than to improve 

 our fruit products and confer a lasting blessing on mankind 

 by improvement in quality, productiveness and longevity. 



Writers on pomology assert that the original of the pippin 

 was the crab-apple, now growing wild in the forests of Eu- 

 rope ; if that assertion be true, and it was the tempting fruit 

 that Eve tasted, it must have been a poor dish to have 

 handed over to the lovely Adam. 



According to heathen mythology a goddess was especially 

 assigned to watch over the orchards of Scandinavia, as apples 

 conferred immortality on the gods, — kept them from showing 

 signs of age; — the fermented juice was drank by "Woden 

 in Vathalla " on special occasions, and given the shades of 

 heroes who had bravely fallen in battle. 



The Druidic Celts of Britain held the apple tree next in 

 veneration to the holy oak, as the parasite, the " sacred 

 mistletoe," flourished on it nearly as well as on that monarch 

 of forest trees. 



Among the Welch of the present day, the old ceremony oi 

 saluting an apple orchard to keep off the "little folk," elfin 

 and fairy, from injuring the crop, is yearly performed by the 

 farmers. 



