XVI 

 THE HARVEST OF THE APPLE-TREE 



Finally the apple is ripe, a fair goodly object joyous 

 in the sun, inviting to every sense. Hanging amidst its 

 foliage, bending the twig with its weight, it is at once a 

 pattern in good shape, perfect in configuration, in sheen 

 beyond imitation, in fragrance the very affluence of all 

 choice clean growth, its surface spread with a bloom 

 often so delicate that the unsympathetic see it not; and 

 yet the rains do not spoil it. 



The apple must be picked. Do not let it fall. Probably 

 it is over-ripe when it falls ; the hold is loosened ; its time 

 is up. Wormy apples may fall before they are ripe; the 

 worm injury, if it begins early, causes them to ripen pre- 

 maturely. A premature apple is not a good apple, albeit 

 the small boy relishes it but only because he may get 

 his apple earlier ; in the apple season, when ripe fruits are 

 abundant, the boy does not choose the wormy one. 



Pick the apple from the tree. It will do you good. 

 It is ever so much better than to pick it from a box on the 

 market or out of a quart-can in the ice-chest. You will 

 feel some sense of responsibility when you pick it, some 

 reaction of relationship to its origin. We know that we 

 understand folks better when we see them at home. 



In varieties that mature before winter, the apple is of 



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