6 THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE APPLE AND PEAR. 
The old ecclesiastical writers abound in fancies, similies, and typical allusions to the apple- 
tree and its fruit. It was believed by some writers to be the tree of life, that it miraculously 
survived the deluge, and that it was this identical tree which was used to make the cross on which 
our Saviour was crucified. It is said the apple tree takes the form of the cross in growth, its trunk, 
the stem; and its transverse boughs, the limbs of the cross. By others, that Christ fastened to the 
cross gives the odour of our redemption. Again, it is our Saviour himself who is compared to the 
apple tree; as this tree excels all others in the beauty and freshness of its blossom, in the s weetness 
of its odour, and in its abundant fruitfulness, so does Christ draw all to himself: Then again, Christ 
in the Sacrament is like the fruit of the apple tree, both food and drink : the colour of the juice of 
the apple may be white and red, typifying the water and the blood. Again, as there are different 
species of apples, all good in their sorts, so Christ has many graces, &c., &c. Apple trees were 
often planted in the monastery gardens, in the form of a cross, and a certain number of the trees 
were put under the charge of each monk. There are also abundant allusions through all ancient 
writers, sacred and profane, as to the medicinal virtues of the apple, which it is unnecessary specially 
to notice. 
The Druids are said to have paid particular reverence to the apple tree. It was the next 
most sacred tree to the oak, and orchards of apple trees are said to have been planted in the 
vicinity of the sacred groves. It is easy to believe that this may have been the case as well from 
the great usefulness of the fruit, as from the fact of the mistletoe growing so frequently upon the 
apple tree. The apple tree was cultivated in Britain from the earliest ages of which we have any 
record, meagre and unsatisfactory as such records may be, especially with reference to apple trees. 
At the time of the invasion of the Romans, Glastonbury is said to have borne the name of 
“Avallonia,” or the “apple island,” from the quantity of apples grown there, though modern writers 
think there is no proof whatever that Glastonbury even existed at that time. If the Druids had 
apples, as doubtless they had, they grew them for some centuries after the Roman invasion in the 
more secluded districts of the country, where they still practised their rites amongst the people. 
There is a poem by Merddin, said to have been a bard of the sixth century, entitled the 
“Avallenau ,” or the “Apple Trees.” Merddin’s existence, and the age in which he lived, is called in 
question by matter of fact people, but the poem “ Avallenau ” remains. The Rev. Edward Davies, 
in his work on “ The Mythology and Rites of the British Druids,’' (1809) says that “Mr. Sharon 
Turner has proved this poem to be the genuine production of Merddin.”—(p. 480.) The purport of 
the poem Mr. Davies states to be “ a tribute of gratitude for the sight of an orchard containing 
one hundred and forty-seven delicious apple trees, which had been privately exhibited to the bard 
by his lord Gwenddleu. This number being the square of seven multiplied by the mystical 
three, carries with it an allegorical meaning, and affords one proof amongst many, that the rites 
of Druidism were practised in Britain as late as the close of the sixth century.” Mr. Davies 
gives the following translations from the poem “ Avallenau 
“ To no one has been exhibited at one hour of dawn what was shewn to Merddin before he 
became aged, namely, seven score and seven delicious apple trees, of equal age, length, and 
size, which sprang from the bosom of Mercy. One bending veil covers them over. They are 
