THE APPLE 65 
Information 
There are many kinds of apples, as you will know if you take 
the trouble to count the kinds you have seen. Yet these are but 
a few of the many varieties that have been cultivated, for the 
number now reaches thousands. There are large apples and small 
apples, sour apples and sweet apples, and apples of nearly all 
shades and mixtures of yellow, green, brown, and red. But, like 
the pear, there are no blue or purple apples. 
No other fruit in America is so widely cultivated as the apple, and 
many animals like it as much as we do. Horses and cows and pigs 
are very fond of apples, and elephants and bears eat them greedily. 
I once knew a little dog that always begged for a bite if he saw any 
one eating an apple. Every one knows how much canaries like them. 
It would be interesting to make a list of all the animals, birds, 
and insects that will eat apples. Probably no one has ever tried 
to find out just how many there are. 
The apple is our most valuable fruit, partly because it keeps so 
well through the winter, partly because it has.so many uses. 
Count all the things which you know that are made of apples. 
You will probably omit one of the most important, and that is 
vinegar. Cider vinegar is made from the juice of apples. The 
apples are ground and then they are put into a cider press and 
squeezed until all the juice has been pressed out. 
At first the juice is sweet. This is called sweet cider. But 
soon it begins to ferment and then it stings the tongue when you 
drink it. This is hard cider. 
If hard cider is allowed to ferment still further, it becomes 
sour. It is then what we call vinegar. 
NATURE STUDY — 5 
