THE APPLE. 
5t) 
of encouraging birds, and to the thorn and arbor vitae hedges 
growing here, and which are greatly resorted to by those of the 
feathered tribe which are the greatest enemies of the insect race. 
Among animals, the toad and the bat are great insect destroy- 
ers. The common bat lives almost entirely upon them, and 
in its evening sallies devours a great number of moths, beetles, 
weevils, etc. ; and the toad quietly makes away with numberless 
smaller insects. 
CHAPTER VIII. 
THE APPLE. 
Pyrus Mains, L. Posacece, of botanists. 
Pommier, of the French; Apfelbaum , German; Apfel, Dutch; Melo pomo, 
Italian; and Manzana , Spanish. 
The Apple is the world-renowned fruit of temperate climates. 
From the most remote periods it has been the subject of praise 
among writers and poets, and the old mythologies all endow its 
fruit with wonderful virtues. The allegorical tree of know- 
ledge bore apples, and the celebrated golden fruit of the or- 
chards of Hesperus, guarded by the sleepless dragon which it 
was one of the triumphs of Hercules to slay, were also apples, 
according to the old legends. Among the heathen gods of the 
north, there were apples fabled to possess the power of confer- 
ring immortality, which were carefully watched over by the 
goddess Iduna, and kept for the especial dessert of the gods who 
felt themselves growing old ! As the mistletoe grew chiefly on 
the apple and the oak, the former tree was looked upon with 
great respect and reverence by the ancient Druids of Britain, 
and even to this day, in some parts of England, the antique cus- 
tom of saluting the apple trees in the orchards, in the hope of 
obtaining a good crop the next year, still lingers among the 
farmers of portions of Devonshire and Herefordshire. This 
old ceremony consists of saluting the tree with a portion of the 
contents of a wassail bowl of cider, with a toast in it, by pouring 
a little of the cider about the roots, and even hanging a bit of the 
toast on the branches of the most barren, the farmer and his 
men dancing in a circle round the tree, and singing rude songs 
like the following: 
“ Here’s to thee, old apple tree, 
Whence thou mayst bud, and whence thou mayst blow ; 
And whence thou mayst bear apples enow, 
Hats full ! caps full — 
Bushels and sacksfull! 
Huzza 1” 
