288 
ladies' department. 
Camus' ?D fpartment. 
APPLE-PARING BEE. 
A much longer time than I intended has passed, 
since I promised to give your readers an account of 
our apple-paring frolics; but some untoward cir- 
cumstance has occurred to prevent it, or to turn my 
attention to another subject when I sat down to write. 
As I wish to be useful, as well as amusing, I will 
begin at the beginning, or as near as I can without 
encroaching upon the nurseryman's province — the 
management of the trees. On that subject, pru- 
dence bids me be silent — so we will suppose the 
orchards are just what they should be. I will only 
hint that, when it can be done without injury to a 
ground crop, the hogs should be allowed to run in 
the orchard for a month or six weeks after the fruit 
has set, to eat all that has been stung by the apple 
millers, as soon as it falls, to prevent the larvas 
from getting into the ground ; whence they will 
surely issue next spring to destroy another crop. 
It is well, too, to have the trees frequently shaken 
gently, in the course of the summer. Few apples 
fall but the wormy ones, and those prematurely 
ripe, which only burden the trees, and prevent the 
full development of the best fruit. 
After the hogs are turned off, as the full-grown 
apples begin to fall, it is pleasant work for the 
children to gather them. The best may be taken 
to market, and sold as early apples. Others may 
be cooked for daily use ; and how delicious those 
same " early-apple" pies and sauces are! How it 
makes one's mouth water to think of them ! The 
surplus are pared and cut for drying ; either spread 
on boards on sheds, or trestles in the sun ; good 
care being taken to cover them at night to keep off 
the dew ; or they are strung on packthread, and 
hung in festoons from one upper window to another, 
on the sunny sides of the house — puzzling travel- 
lers unacquainted with the custom, who cannot 
imagine what those numerous, queer-looking " orna- 
ments" are, or what can possibly be their use. I 
do not recommend this last way of drying any fruit, 
as there is apt to be left a hard lump where the 
string passes through. When they are prepared in 
this way, a basketful or two at a time, the trouble 
is unheeded, as it takes but a few spare minutes 
each day, and something is daily gained towards 
the stock of winter provisions. In damp weather, 
and later in the season, when they are to be dried 
in the oven, the apples should not be cut very thin, 
as they become tasteless and tough. If the small 
ones are divided into four, and the larger into six 
pieces only, the fruit, when cooked, will be more 
tender, and have a richer flavor. 
When apples are in unusual abundance, or are cul- 
tivated on a large scale for exportation, or sale, it 
is very common for the men to have a " bee" in 
the morning, to gather, and cart them home, where 
they assort and spread them out to "sweat," before 
they are packed in barrels, buried in garden heaps, 
or otherwise stored away. Everybody joins in the 
"gathering in," and a rare frolic it is to the happy 
children to be allowed to help or hinder, as the case 
may be — girls and boys, down to the "toulin wee 
things," that " may be ane, or may be ither ;" for 
all the difference in their appearance is made by 
the frocks and aprons, sunburnt faces, and short, 
curly hair. 
But I have delayed too long, and must hasten to 
the frolic — the " great apple-paring bee," which 
always takes place on the evening preceding the 
day appointed for boiling apple butter : a work of 
no small importance to our northern farmers. From 
these select and well-arranged parties, no affectation of 
refinement need keep away even the boarding-school 
young ladies, nor the college students, who might be 
horrified at the suspicion of their joining in a 
"corn-husking frolic," or a "log-rolling bee." 
Here neighbors, whose parents and grandparents 
have been friends from generation to generation, 
meet on equal ground. While all are engaged in 
contributing to the happiness of others, the cheer- 
ful conversation, the merry laugh, and the comic 
song are unrepressed by chilling rebuke, or morose 
looks. Not the slightest approach to boisterous 
mirth or rudeness is tolerated. It is no unusual 
thing, when a party is smaller than was expected, 
or if some particularly entertaining guest has failed 
to come, to introduce a book, and beguile an hour 
or two by reading aloud. 
Among our young people, these meetings are 
still looked forward to with the most pleasant anti- 
cipations ; and I hope the time is far distant when 
the beautiful simplicity of manners in our little 
community will be changed, and we become too 
" refined" to enjoy them. I shall not live to see it ; 
for as yet there is no symptoms of any such un- 
healthy change. I love not to see old heads on 
young shoulders. I do love dearly to see young 
people enjoy themselves, as the young only can. 
In the house to which they are bound, every- 
thing has been prepared for their reception the day 
before ; and as soon as the early supper has been 
hurried away, the carpet in the common room is 
taken up ; or where dancing is not allowed, it is 
carefully covered; but most generally the assembly 
is held in the kitchen, which, among industrious 
farmers, is always the largest room. The tubs and 
baskets of apples are brought in and arranged 
around the room, in front of the chairs. The 
large logs are piled on the fire in the great chimney, 
in the ample corners of which the old people have 
taken their seats, expecting and receiving all proper 
deference and respect from. the younger members of 
the party. 
The visitors seat themselves, as they arrive, and, 
without ceremony, or much choice of places, they 
begin to work, each of the women with a coarse 
towel spread under the dish of apples, to protect 
the snowy-white or neat check aprons from spot or 
stain. The knives are sharp as razors, the work 
goes on rapidly, and, as the apples are pared, they 
are put into baskets or pans. When enough are 
done, two or three of the more elderly boys begin 
to cut and core them ; and, with a fair start, one 
expert hand can keep half a dozen busy paring for 
him, unless they employ the " patent apple parer," 
I which reverses the matter in fine style, and takes 
the skins off as fast as half a dozen pair of hands 
I can cut and core. I do not think I quite like this 
j labor-saving machine at an apple paring; it does 
the work too soon ; but it is a useful little thing 
that should find a place in every kitchen. E. S. 
Eutawah, August, 1849. 
