258 AROUND AN OLD HOMESTEAD. 



or that can be served up in so many ways. It is the 

 mainstay of fruits, as if to atone for its traditional 

 tempting qualities in the Garden. Having once .un- 

 fortunately been the apple of discord, it has proved 

 itself at last in truth to be golden, equal indeed to the 

 apples of Hesperides. And so we keep it as the apple 

 of our eye. The tree itself is the most graceful of all 

 the fruit-trees. Other kinds of fruit, such as peaches, 

 may be more pleasing at the time, but none stands the 

 test so well throughout the year. 



In early times they used to bury apples, for the 

 winter, and, when finally taken out, they had a peculiar 

 earthy taste which was not unpleasant. None of the 

 cold storage apples are so good, ^and yet none even of 

 those stored in bins or buried are so sweet as those 

 fresh from the trees. 



Dried apples are also quite an accessory to the 

 farm. In the old days nearly every farm had its shed, 

 with its roof covered with split apples drying .in the 

 sun. They get calloused by this method, a sort of hard 

 skin forming over them, which keeps the moisture in. 

 For this purpose they used to have "apple cuttings," 

 or "apple bees," at which the neighbors would come 

 on an evening, and the gathering would then divide 

 into two parties, each with an equal number of persons 

 and a similar amount of apples, and then go it they 

 would to see which would pare and slice the most. 

 These would be strung sometimes on long threads, or 

 strings, like onion tops, and then hung in great festoons 

 about the walls. They do very well in winter-time, 

 but these dried apples are not so good to eat, as such, 

 as are dried peaches; they must be cooked into some 



