74 NATURE STUDY MADE EASY 



LESSON XXV 



LIFE HISTORY OF AN APPLE 



What plant we in this apple tree ? 

 Buds, which the heat 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. 



Do you know why our own poet, William Cullen Bryant, wrote 

 those lines about the apple tree ? 



Who has eaten a ripe, rosy apple? Did you enjoy the deli- 

 cious fruit? Do you know where it grew? Upon an apple tree 

 among many others, also ripe and rosy. Have you ever seen an 



apple tree growing ? It is quite unlike the 

 tall pine or the sturdy forest oak. It is a 

 fruit tree. Apple trees grow in orchards, 

 planted by the farmer. The branches are 

 thick and stout and irregular. The trees 

 do not grow very high. 

 APPLE BLOSSOM In the winter the branches are bare, 



and you can easily see the short twigs with buds at the end of 

 each. You can tell just how much each twig grows in a year 



