14 THE APPLE-TREE 



it shows its ruggedness specially well. It presents forms 

 to attract the artist. Even when gnarly and broken, it 

 does not convey an impression of decrepitude and decay 

 but rather of a hardy old character bearing his burdens. 

 In every winter landscape I look instinctively for the 

 apple-tree. 



We are so accustomed to the apple-tree as a part of an 

 orchard, where it is trimmed into shape and its bolder 

 irregularities controlled, that we do not think it has 

 beauty when left to itself to grow as it will. An apple- 

 tree that takes its own course, as does a pine-tree or an 

 oak, is looked on as unkempt and unprofitable and as a 

 sorry object in the landscape, advertizing the neglect of 

 the owner. Yet if the apple-tree had never borne good 

 fruit, we should plant it for its bloom and its pictur- 

 esqueness as we plant a hawthorn or a locust-tree. 



In winter and in summer, and in the months between, 

 my apple-tree is a great fact. It is a character in the 

 population of my scenery, standing for certain human 

 emotions. The tree is a living thing, not merely a some- 

 thing that bears apples. 



