132 THE APPLE. 



this all. Beside its hygienic properties, the apple is 

 full of sugar and mucilage, which make it highly 

 nutritious. It is said "The operators of Cornwall, 

 England, consider ripe apples nearly as nourishing as 

 bread, and far more so than potatoes. In the year 

 1801 which was a year of much scarcity apples, 

 instead of being converted into cider, were sold to the 

 poor, and the laborers asserted that they could ' stand 

 their work ' on baked apples without meat ; whereas 

 a potato diet required either meat or some other sub- 

 stantial nutriment. The French and Germans use 

 apples extensively, so do the inhabitants of all Euro- 

 pean nations. The laborers depend upon them as 

 an article of food, and frequently make a dinner of 

 sliced apples and bread." 



Yet the English apple is a tame and insipid affair, 

 compared with the intense, sun-colored and sun- 

 steeped fruit our orchards yield. The English have 

 no sweet apple I am told, the saccharine element ap- 

 parently being less abundant in vegetable nature in 

 that sour and chilly climate than in our own. It is 

 well known that the European maple yields no sugar, 

 while both our birch and hickory have sweet in their 

 veins. Perhaps this fact accounts for our excessive 

 love of sweets which may be said to be a national 

 trait. 



The Russian apple has a lovely complexion, smooth 

 and transparent, but the Cossack is not yet all elimi- 

 nated from it. The only one I have seen the 

 Duchess of Oldenburg is as beautiful as a Tartar 



