_A FRUITFUL FAMILY: THE PEACH, ALMOND, PLUM AND CHERRY_.
Snowdrops, crocuses, hyacinths and tulips were blooming out of doors and
in-doors; the grass looked green and velvety, and the fruit trees were,
as John expressed it, "all a-blow." The peach trees, without a sign of a
leaf, looked, as every one said of them, like immense bouquets of pink
flowers, while pear, cherry and plum trees seemed as if they were
dressed in white.
One cloudy, windy day, when the petals fell off in showers and strewed
the ground, Edith declared that it was snowing; but she soon saw her
mistake, and then began to worry because there would be no blossoms left
for fruit.
"If the flowers stayed on, there would be no fruit," said Miss Harson.
"Let me show you just where the little green germ is."
"Why, of course!" said Malcolm; "it's in the part that stays on the
tree."
Edith listened intently while her governess showed her the ovary of a
blossom safe on the twig where it grew, and explained to her that it was
this which, nourished by the sap of the tree, with the aid of the sun
and air, would ripen into fruit, while the petals were merely a fringe
or ornament to the true blossom.
At Elmridge, scattered here and there through garden and grounds, as Mr.
Kyle liked to have them, there were some fruit trees of every kind that
would flourish in that part of the country, but there was no orchard;
and for this reason Miss Harson had taken the children to see the grand
apple-blossoming at Farmer Grove's. Two very large pear trees stood one
on either side of the lawn, and there were dwarf pear trees in
the garden.
"I think pears are nicer than apples," said Clara as they stood looking
at the fine trees, now perfectly covered with their snowy blossoms.
But Malcolm, who found it hard work to be happy on three apples a day,
stoutly disagreed with his sister on this point, and declared that
nothing was so good as apples.
"How about ice-cream?" asked his governess, when she heard this sweeping
assertion.
The young gentleman was silent, for his exploits with this frozen luxury
were a constant subject of wonder to his friends and relatives.
"You will notice," said Miss Harson, "that the shape of these trees is
much more graceful than that of the apple tree. They are tall and
slender, forming what is called an imperfect pyramid. Standard pear
trees, like these, give a good shade, and the long, slender branches are
well clothed with leaves of a bright, glossy green. This rich color
lasts late into the autumn, and it is then varied with yellow, and often
with red and black, spots; so that pear-leaves are not to be despised in
gathering autumn-leaf treasures. The pear is not so useful a fruit as
the apple, nor so showy in color; but it has a more delicate and spicy
flavor, and often is of an immense size."
"Yes, indeed!" said Clara. "Don't you remember, Miss Harson, that
sometimes Edith and I can have only one pear divided between us at
dessert because they are so large?"
"Yes, dear; and I think that half a duchess pear is as much as can be
comfortably managed at once."
"Well," observed Malcolm, "I don't want half an apple.--But, Miss
Harson, do they ever have 'pear-howlings' in England?"
"I have never read of any," was the reply, "and I think that strange
custom is confined to apple trees. And there is no mention made of
either pears or pear trees in the Scriptures."
"What are prickly-pears?" asked Clara. "Do they have thorns on 'em?"
"There is a plant by this name," replied her governess, "with large
yellow flowers, and the fruit is full of small seeds and has a crimson
pulp. It grows in sandy places near the salt water; it is abundant in
North Africa and Syria, and is considered quite good to eat; but neither
plant nor fruit bears any resemblance to our pear trees: it is
a cactus."
"Won't you have a story for us this evening, Miss Harson?" asked Edith,
rather wistfully.
"Perhaps so, dear--I have been thinking of it--but it will not be about
pear trees."
"Oh, I don't care," with a very bright face; "I'd as soon have it about
cherry trees, or--'Most anything!"
Miss Harson laughed, and said,
"Well, then, I think it will be about cherries; so you must rest on
that. This morning we will go around among the fruit trees and see what
we can learn from seeing them."
Of course it was Saturday morning and there were no lessons, or they
would not have been roaming around "promiscuous," as Jane called it; for
the young governess was very careful not to let the getting of one kind
of knowledge interfere with the getting of another.
"How do you like these pretty quince trees?" asked Miss Harson as they
came to some large bushes with great pinkish flowers.
"I like 'em," replied Edith, "because they're so little. And oh what
pretty flowers!"
"Some more relations of the rose," said her governess. "And do you
notice how fragrant they are? The tree is always low and crooked, just
as you see it, and the branches straggle not very gracefully. The under
part of the dark-green leaves is whitish and downy-looking, and the
flowers are handsome enough to warrant the cultivation of the tree just
for their sake, but the large golden fruit is much prized for preserves,
and in the autumn a small tree laden down with it is quite an ornamental
object. The quince is more like a pear than an apple. As the book says,
'it has the same tender and mucilaginous core; the seeds are not
enclosed in a dry hull, like those of the apple; and the pulp of the
quince, like that of the pear, is granulated, while that of the apple
displays in its texture a firmer and finer organization.' The fruit,
however, is so hard, even when ripe, that it cannot be eaten without
cooking. It is said to be a native of hedges and rocky places in the
South of Europe."
[Illustration: PEACH-BLOSSOM.]
"These peach trees," said Clara, "look like sticks with pink flowers all
over 'em." "They are remarkably bare of leaves when in bloom," was the
reply: "the leaves burst forth from their envelopes as the blossoms pass
away; but how beautiful the blossoms are! from the deepest pink to that
delicate tint which is called peach-color. But do you know that we have
left the apple and rose family now, and have come to the almond family?"
The children were very much surprised to hear this, and they looked at
the peach trees with fresh interest.
"Yes," continued Miss Harson, "the family consists of the almond tree,
the peach tree, the apricot tree, the plum tree and the cherry tree; and
one thing that distinguishes them from the other families is the gum
which is found on their trunks.--Look around, Malcolm, at the peach,
plum and cherry trees, which are the only members of the family that we
have at Elmridge, and you will find gum oozing from the bark, especially
where there are knotholes."
Malcolm not only found the gum, but succeeded in helping himself to some
of it, which he shared with his sisters. It had a rather sweet taste,
and the children seemed to like it, having first obtained permission of
their governess to eat it.
"That is another of the things that I thought 'puffickly d'licious' when
I was a child," said the young lady, laughing. "But there is another
peculiarity of this family of trees which is not so innocent, and that
is that in the fruit-kernel, and also in the leaves, there is a deadly
poison called prussic acid."
"O--h!" exclaimed the children, drawing back from the trees as though
they expected to be poisoned on the spot.
"But, as we do not eat either the kernels or the leaves," continued
their governess, "we need not feel uneasy, for the fruit never yet
poisoned any one. Here are the cherry trees, so covered with blossoms
that they look like masses of snow; and the smaller plum trees are also
attired in white. We will begin this evening with the almond tree, and
see what we can find out about the family."
"Do almond trees and peach trees look alike?" asked Clara, when they
were fairly settled by the schoolroom fire; for the evenings were too
cool yet for the piazza.
"Very much alike," was the reply; "only the almond tree is larger and it
has white instead of pink blossoms. Then it is the _fruit_ of the peach
we eat, but of the almond we eat the kernel of the stem. I will read you
a little account of it:
"'The common almond is a native of Barbary, but has long been
cultivated in the South of Europe and the temperate parts of Asia. The
fruit is produced in very large quantities and exported in to northern
countries; it is also pressed for oil and used for various domestic
purposes. There are numerous varieties of this species, but the two
chief kinds are the bitter almond and the sweet almond. The sweet almond
affords a favorite article for dessert, but it contains little
nourishment, and of all nuts is the most difficult of digestion. The
tree has been cultivated in England for about three centuries for the
sake of its beautiful foliage, as the fruit will not ripen without a
greater degree of heat than is found in that climate. The distilled
water of the bitter almond is highly injurious to the human species,
and, taken in a large dose, produces almost instant death.' The prussic
acid which can be obtained from the kernel of the peach is found also in
the bitter almond."
[Illustration: THE ALMOND.--BRANCH AND FRUIT.]
"But what do they want to find it for," asked Malcolm, "when it kills
people?"
"Because," replied his governess, "like some other noxious things, it
can be made valuable when used moderately and in the right way. But it
is often employed to give a flavor to intoxicating liquors, and this is
_not_ a right way, as it makes them even more dangerous than before. But
we will leave the prussic acid and return to our almond tree. It
flourishes in Palestine, where it blooms in January, and in March the
ripe fruit can be gathered."
This seemed wonderfully strange to the children--flowers in January and
fruit in March; and Miss Harson explained to them that in that part of
the world they do not often have our bitter cold weather with its ice
and snow to kill the tender buds.
"This tree," continued Miss Harson, "is occasionally mentioned in the
Old Testament. In Jeremiah the prophet says, 'I see a rod of an almond
tree[13];' also in Ecclesiastes it is said that 'the almond tree shall
flourish[14].'"
[13] Jer. i. II.
[14] Eccl. xii. 5.
"Are there ever many peach trees growing in one place," asked Clara,
"like the apple trees in Mr. Grove's orchard?"
"Yes," was the reply, "for in some places there are immense
peach-orchards, covering many acres of ground; and when the trees in
these are in blossom, the spring landscape seems to be pink with them.
These great peach-fields are found in Delaware and Maryland, where the
fruit grows in such perfection, and also in some of the Western States.
We all know how delicious it is, but, unfortunately, so does a certain
green worm, who curls up in the leaves which he gnaws in spite of the
prussic acid. This insect will often attack the finest peaches and lay
its eggs in them when the fruit is but half grown. In this way the young
grubs find food and lodging provided for them all in one, and they
thrive, while the peach decays."
"What a shame it is," exclaimed Malcolm, in great indignation, "to have
our best peaches eaten by wretched little worms who might just as well
eat grass and leave the peaches for us!"
"Perhaps they think it a shame that they are so often shaken to the
ground or washed off the trees," replied Miss Harson; "and, as to their
eating grass, they evidently prefer peaches. 'Insects as well as human
beings have discriminating tastes, and the poor plum tree suffers even
more than the peach from their attentions. In some parts of the country
it has been entirely given up to their depredations, and farmers will
not try to raise this fruit because of these active enemies. The whole
almond family are liable to the attacks of insects. Canker-worms of one
or of several species often strip them of their leaves; the
tent-caterpillars pitch their tents among the branches and carry on
their dangerous depredations; the slug-worms, the offspring of a fly
called _Selandria cerasi_, reduce the leaves to skeletons, and thus
destroy them; the cherry-weevils penetrate their bark, cover their
branches with warts and cause them to decay; and borers gnaw galleries
in their trunks and devour the inner bark and sap-wood.' So you see
that, with such an army of destroyers, we may be thankful to get any
fruit at all."
"I'm glad to know the name of that fly," said Malcolm, who considered it
an additional grievance that it should have such a long name, "but I
won't try to call him by it if I meet him anywhere."
"I think it's pretty," said Clara, beginning to repeat it, and making a
decided failure.
"Fortunately," continued their governess, after reading it again for
them, "there are other things much more important for you to remember
just now, and I could not have said it myself without the book. And now
let us see what else we can learn about the plum. It is a native, it
seems, of North America, Europe and Asia, and many of the wild species
are thorny. The cultivated plums, damsons and gages are varieties of
the _Prunus domestica_, the cultivated plum tree. These have no thorns;
the leaves are oval in shape, and the flowers grow singly. The most
highly-valued cultivated plum trees came originally from the East, where
they have been known from time immemorial. In many countries of Eastern
Europe domestic animals are fattened on their fruits, and an alcoholic
liquor is obtained from them; they also yield a white, crystallizable
sugar. The prunes which we import from France are the dried fruit of
varieties of the plum which contain a sufficient quantity of sugar to
preserve the fruit from decay."
"Do prunes really grow on trees, Miss Harson?" asked Edith, who was
rather disposed to think that they grew in pretty boxes.
"Yes, dear," was the reply; "they grow just as our plums do, only they
are dried and packed in layers before they reach this country. We have
two species of wild plum in North America--the beach-plum, a low shrub
found in New England, the fruit of which is dark blue and about the
size of damsons; while the other is quite a large tree, and very showy
when covered with its scarlet fruit. In Maine it is called plum-granate,
probably from its red color," "I know what's coming next," said
Clara--"cherries; because all the rest have been used up. And then we're
to have the story."
"But they're all interesting," replied Malcolm, gallantly, "because Miss
Harson makes them so."
"I hope that is not the only reason," said his governess, laughing, "for
trees are always beautiful and interesting and it is a privilege to be
able to learn something of their habits and history.--Like most fruit
trees, the cherry has many varieties, but it is always a handsome tree,
and less spoiled by insects than others of the almond family. The black
cherry is the most common species in the United States, and is both wild
and cultivated. The garden cherry has broad, ovate, rough and serrate
leaves, growing thickly on the branches, and this, with the height of
the tree, makes a fine shade. Some old cherry trees have huge trunks,
and their thick branches spread to a great distance. The branches of the
wild cherry are too straggling to make a beautiful tree, and the leaves
are small and narrow. The blossoms of the cultivated cherry are in
umbels, while those of the wild cherry are borne in racemes."
"I remember that, Miss Harson," said Clara, pleased with her knowledge.
"'Umbel' means 'like an umbrella,' and 'raceme' means 'growing along
a stem.'"
"Very well indeed!" was the reply; "I am glad you have not forgotten
it.--Of our cultivated cherries, we have here at Elmridge, besides the
large black ones, which are so very sweet about the first of July, the
great ox-hearts, which look like painted wax and ripen in June, and
those very acid red ones, often called pie-cherries, which are used for
pies and preserves. The cherry is a beautiful fruit, and one that is
popular with birds as well as with boys. The great northern cherry of
Europe, which was named by Linnaeus the 'bird-cherry,' is encouraged in
Great Britain and on the Continent for the benefit of the birds, which
are regarded as the most important checks to the over-multiplication of
insects. The fact not yet properly understood in America--that the birds
which are the most mischievous consumers of fruit are the most useful as
destroyers of insects--is well known by all farmers in Europe; and while
we destroy the birds to save the fruit, and sometimes cut down the
fruit-trees to starve the birds, the Europeans more wisely plant them
for the food and accommodation of the birds."
"Isn't it wicked to kill the poor little birds?" asked Edith.
"Yes, dear; it is cruel to kill them just for sport, as is often done,
and very foolish, as we have just seen, to destroy them for the sake of
the fruit, which the insects make way with in much greater quantities
than the birds do."
"Miss Harson," asked Clara, "do people cut down real cherry trees to
make the pretty red furniture like that in your room?"
"It is the wood of the wild cherry," replied her governess, "that is
used for this purpose. It is of a light-red or fresh mahogany color,
growing darker and richer with age. It is very close-grained, compact,
takes a good polish, and when perfectly seasoned is not liable to shrink
or warp. It is therefore particularly suitable, and much employed, for
tables, chests of drawers, and other cabinet-work, and when polished and
varnished is not less beautiful for such articles than are inferior
kinds of mahogany."
"'Cherry' sounds pretty to say," continued Clara. "I wonder how the tree
got that name?"
"That wonder is easily explained," said Miss Harson, "for I have been
reading about it, and I was just going to tell you. 'Cherry comes from
'Cerasus,' the name of a town on the Black Sea from whence the tree is
supposed to have been introduced into Italy, and it designates a genus
of about forty species, natives of all the temperate regions of the
northern hemisphere. They are trees or shrubs with smooth serrated
leaves, which are folded together when young, and white or reddish
flowers growing in bunches, like umbels, and preceding the leaves or in
terminal racemes accompanying or following the leaves. A few species,
with numerous varieties, produce valuable fruits; nearly all are
remarkable for the abundance of their early flowers, sometimes rendered
double by cultivation. And now," added the young lady, "we have arrived
at the story, which is translated from the German; and in Germany the
cherries are particularly fine. A plateful of this beautiful fruit was,
as you will see, the cause of some remarkable changes."