APPLE ORCHARDS OP MY YOUTH. 



195 



same orchard or neighborhood with no marks of 

 grafting. There were summer, autumn and winter 

 varieties, sweet and sour, some quite as good as 

 our choicest grafted kinds of the present day. 



Did these 

 old orchards 

 bear well ? 

 Yes, abund- 

 antly previous 

 to 1835. At 

 that time I 

 had never 

 heard of apple 

 failure. Then 

 there came a 

 succession of 

 cold springs, 

 blasting the 

 blossoms, and 

 ice storms 

 breaking the 

 trees so that 

 with the in- 

 coming of the 

 temp erance 

 r e f ormation, 

 doing away 

 with cider, 

 many o r - 

 chards were 

 cut down and 

 few new ones 

 planted for 

 twenty years. 

 But my boy- 

 hood memory 

 i s with or- 

 chards bend- 

 i n g to the 

 ground with 

 fruit, while 

 the walnuts 

 and chestnuts 

 and butter- 

 nuts could be 

 gathered b y 



the bushel — the latter sometimes by the cart-load 

 where there was a large family of boys or girls. 

 Rural hospitality was royal hospitality around the 

 big blazing hearth, with a bushel of butternuts or a 

 half bushel of walnuts, with the accompaniment of 

 cider and apples. Carp at them as we may, it is 

 still true that around these homely firesides, with 



' The Largest Tree which I Know. 



these simple luxuries, grew up men and women of 

 noble character. 



Our grafted apples now are the selections from 

 the best natural varieties of the old days. Litch- 



fi e 1 d county 

 has given at 

 least two and 

 perhaps three 

 that stand 

 very high in 

 m y estima- 

 t i o n . The 

 Excel i s an 

 e a rly winter 

 apple of the 

 S p i t zenberg 

 type, which 

 originated in 

 Sharon. The 

 tree is more 

 vigorous than 

 the Spitzen- 

 berg, a better 

 bearer, fruit 

 larger and 

 more tender ; 

 flavor not 

 quite as high, 

 neither the 

 color. The 

 H u r 1 b u r t 

 originated on 

 the farm of 

 Gen. Hurl- 

 burt, at Win- 

 chester. The 

 tree is very 

 vigorous and 

 a great bear- 

 er ; fruit me- 

 dium size.yel- 

 1 o w , mostly 

 covered with 

 bright red 

 stripes, mild 

 s u b - a c id — 



good for eating or cooking from November to Jan- 

 uary. 



The Burnham Sweet is said to have originated in 

 Cornwall on the farm of Judge Oliver Burnham. 

 The tree is a vigorous grower and great bearer ; 

 fruit large, smooth, green, yellow flesh, and of ex- 

 cellent quality ; October to March. In many re- 



