242 AROUND AN OLD HOMESTEAD. 



flower, the speckled Fall Pippin, the striped Northern 

 Spy, the crimson Smith's Cider, the red Baldwin, the 

 deeper-colored Canada Red, the Rhode Island Green- 

 ing (for even "Little Rhody" gave a name to a famous 

 apple) ; and so with all the other kinds — the Rambo, 

 Astrachan, Seek-no-farther, Winesap, Ben Davis, Rome 

 Beauty — each has its own distinctive markings and its 

 own unique taste among its rivals. 



There are sweet apples, like the large greenish- 

 yellow, sheep-nosed Bough Apple, or the Pumpkin 

 Sweet; there are sour apples, like the Maiden's Blush 

 and Summer Queen ; there are those that are half-and- 

 half, like the delicious Tulpehocken; and there are the 

 acrid Siberian Crabs. Some come to maturity early in 

 summer, like the little Strawberry Apple, some in time 

 of harvest, like the Harvest Apple and the Cathead; 

 but most ripen in the fall, though a few hang on even 

 to the winter, and are best fitted to be eaten in the fol- 

 lowing spring. The autumn, however, is the typical 

 season for apples. Then is the time for the picking of 

 the fruit, or the shaking of the boughs for those that 

 are to be used for cider. It is well, if you want to 

 select and improve your apples, to have a preliminary 

 thinning out of the inferior ones first (Nature will help 

 you by some windfalls), leaving the largest and best 

 fellows to grow into still more tempting dimensions 

 (which they will do) by appropriating the strength of 

 the tree thereafter for themselves alone. They must 

 be handled carefully, so as not to be bruised; a sack 

 slung about the shoulders is better than a basket. Ah, 

 I am up in the trees again among them. The bough 

 is fairly exhausted, bending almost to breaking, with 



