THE APPLE 119 



but there is the texture and polish. Some apples 

 are coarse-grained and some are fine; some are thin- 

 skinned and some are thick. One variety is quick 

 and vigorous beneath the touch, another gentle and 

 yielding. The pinnock has a thick skin with a 

 spongy lining; a bruise in it becomes like a piece of 

 cork. The tallow apple has an unctuous feel, as its 

 name suggests. It sheds water like a duck. What 

 apple is that with a fat curved stem that blends 

 so prettily with its own flesh, — the wine apple ? 

 Some varieties impress me as masculine, — weather- 

 stained, freckled, lasting, and rugged; others are 

 indeed lady apples, fair, delicate, shining, mild- 

 flavored, white-meated, like the egg-drop and lady- 

 finger. The practiced hand knows each kind by the 

 touch. 



Do you remember the apple hole in the garden or 

 back of the house, Ben Bolt? In the fall, after the 

 bins in the cellar had been well stocked, we exca- 

 vated a circular pit in the warm mellow earth, and, 

 covering the bottom with clean rye straw, emptied 

 in basketful after basketful of hardy choice varieties, 

 tiU there was a tent-shaped mound several feet high 

 of shining variegated fruit. Then, wrapping it about 

 with a thick layer of long rye straw, and tucking it 

 up snug and warm, the mound was covered with a 

 thin coating of earth, a flat stone on the top holding 

 down the straw. As winter set in, another coating 

 of earth was put upon it, with perhaps an overcoat 

 of coarse dry stable manure, and the precious pile 

 was left in silence and darkness tiU spring. Ko 



