THE APPLE. 51 



time that the work is done without hurry or 

 risk. When we add to these considerations 

 the intrinsic value of the apple for domestic 

 purposes, and of its juice for vinegar or for 

 boiling to a syrup for culinary use, we must 

 readily admit that it easily takes the front 

 rank. The greatly increased facilities for 

 cheap and rapid transportation to European 

 markets and elsewhere, and the large foreign 

 demand which has lately been developed, is 

 an assurance that the market cannot be over- 

 stocked with high-grade apples. The progress 

 which has also been made within the past few 

 years, in the control of diseases and insect 

 depredations, is an assurance that the intel- 

 ligent and persevering cultivator can have 

 strong confidence for profitable returns from 

 his apple orchard. Yet it does not follow that 

 it is to be planted freely upon country places 

 of limited extent. The various insects which 

 injure the fruit are more readily destroyed in 

 an orchard by systematic attention, than upon 

 a few scattering trees. Moreover, the price of 

 the fruit is usually low, the trees are spreading 

 and require space. Our land may be too val- 

 uable and precious to allow them more than 

 the corners or an odd angle. But the best 

 early and autumn varieties we must have for 



