OLD ORCHARDS. 117 



hanging from the trees or lying in heaps upon the ground ; 

 of juvenile sports ; of truancy and birdnesting ; of the 

 cider-mUl and the apple-cart, and of hard bargaining 

 by men whose accumulations can be made only by penu- 

 rious saving. 



The chief beauty of the apple-tree — that kind of 

 beauty which affects the eye, rather than the mind — 

 comes from its flowers and fruit. But when it has grown 

 hoary with the mosses of age, there is no small tree that 

 displays so many picturesque qualities, in which it is 

 hardly surpassed by the oak. The apple-tree, indeed, has 

 many of the characters of the oak. Though of inferior 

 size, it displays great breadth in proportion to its height, 

 and a corresponding sturdiness of appearance, caused by 

 the length and horizontal spread of its lower branches. 

 There is an air of picturesque antiquity about an old 

 orchard which we look for in vain among the trees of 

 our forest. "Whether this comes from the greater age of 

 the fruit-trees, which have been preserved through many 

 generations, whQe the neighboring forest growth is young 

 and new, or from the sturdy and rugged forms of the 

 apple-trees, I will confess that I look to the old orchard, 

 rather than to the wood, to gratify my taste for the pic- 

 turesque in trees. 



One of the, most charming appearances about an old 

 orchard is neglect. I cannot account for all the pleasure 

 we feel, under certain circumstances, from the sight of a" 

 neglected field or old family estate ; but I have often felt 

 it to be the cause of some of the most agreeable sensa- 

 tions that can be awakened by the scenes of nature. 

 Half the pleasure that comes from the sight of moss has 

 this metaphysical basis. Moss is one of the evidences of 

 antiquity, and yields to a natural object a venerable look, 

 as gray hairs add dignity to the head of an old man. It 

 is also one of the. tokens of freedom and seclusion. We 



