STUDIES OF TREES IN WINTER 



The low, flat-topped, broad-headed shape of 

 the apple tree is so characteristic that it may 

 be easily recognized in winter, even when there 

 is no surrounding orchard to identify it. So 

 strong in one's mind is the association of 

 blossoms with these trees, that even a bare 

 old apple tree against a winter sky suggests 

 the spring, — an apple tree always seems to be 

 haunted by the ghosts of its pink blossoms. 

 The literary history of this tree goes back to 

 the mythologies of the Greeks, the Scandina- 

 vians, and the Druids, and it also figures 

 prominently in early Christian as well as pagan 

 legends. It has been cultivated for its fruit 

 since prehistoric times, and there are hundreds 

 of varieties of it in cultivation. 



The wood is fine-grained, hard, and a rich 

 reddish brown color. It is used for small pur- 

 poses in turnery. The fruit, however, is the 

 most valuable product of the tree, and cider 

 has been made from it for hundreds of years. 

 Its native country is uncertain, but it is probably 

 indigenous to the Northwestern Himalayas and 

 the forests along the Black Sea. It was in- 

 troduced into Britain by the Romans, and it is 

 widely naturalized in the United States. 



The generic name, Pyrus, is the ancient 

 classical name for the pear tree, and probably 



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