2l6 FIELD NOTES IN SEED TIME. 



possibly from the garden of Woolsthorpe, where 

 Newton was told about the laws of gravitation — 

 planting them about their new homes. By its 

 sterling qualities, man from the early ages has nat- 

 uralized and domesticated this fruit, and its course 

 with civilization has been westward, till it com- 

 pleted a circle round the globe. 



It would be interesting to know how far back in 

 the history of the world originated the game of 

 " naming the seeds," or of throwing the apple-peel- 

 ing over the right shoulder. Hundreds and thou- 

 sands of years, I venture to say ; before the modern 

 " Huldies " and " Zekles " attended the apple bees ; 

 customs that perhaps prevailed in the kitchens of 

 the Lake Dwellers and Aryans, and have been 

 handed down from parent to child through many 

 generations ; changed to serve and harmonize with 

 time and place until they have reached us, that 

 are not yet entirely emancipated from the old 

 credulities and superstitions. 



The fields of maize, ripe and abounding with 

 the rich, heavy fruitage, are beautiful pictures in 

 the mellow autumn days to the poetical observer 

 of Nature, and offer to the harvest-home, as well, 

 a standard of value equal to that of gold. The 

 long spikes bend over like horns of plenty, filled 



