Both pagan and Christian mythologies have endowed the Apple with
wonderful virtues. It has possessed a symbolism for man in all stages of
civilization. Standing for the type of the earthly in its contrast with
the spiritual, it represented the idea of that conflict between Ormuzd
and Arimanes in which the evil principle is continually victor. The
stories of Eve, of Paris, the Hesperides and Atalanta all emphasize this
thought, showing the Apple to have been a reward of appetite over
conscience.
The allegorical tree of knowledge bore apples guarded by the serpent,
and the golden fruit of the garden of Hesperides was apples protected by
the sleepless dragon, which it was one of the triumphs of Hercules to
slay. The Assyrian tree Gavkerena, the Persian “Jima’s Paradise,”
“Indra’s heaven” and the Scandinavian ash tree Yggdrasil, all prefaced
the story of Paris and the apple of discord which Ate brought to the
banquet of the gods. In Greece it became the emblem of love, being
dedicated to Venus. Aphrodite bore it in her hand as well as Eve, and it
is said that Ulysses longed for it in the garden of Alcinous, while
Tantalus vainly grasped for it in hades. The fruit was offered as a
prize in the Grecian games given in honor of Apollo.
Among the heathen gods of the north there were apples fabled to possess
the power of conferring immortality, which were carefully watched over
by the goddess Iduna and jealously preserved for the dessert of the gods
who experienced the enervation of old age. Azrael accomplished his
mission by holding the apple to the nostrils of his victims, and the
Scandinavian genii are said to have possessed the power of turning the
fruit into gold.
The ancients better appreciated the importance of the apple than do the
moderns, who treat it chiefly as “the embryonic condition of cider or as
something to be metamorphosed into pies.” It is said to be indigenous to
every part of the inhabited globe except South America and the islands
of the Pacific. It is equally at home in the fierce heat of the equator
and among the frosts of Siberia. In olden times, the fig was the index
of a native civilization. Later on, the vine was king, but at the
present time there are many who maintain that the Apple is the only
genuine index of civilized man, and claim that it flourishes best in
those regions where man’s moral and intellectual supremacy is most
marked.
The Athenians made frequent mention of the cultivation of the Apple, and
Pliny enumerates twenty varieties that were known in his day. It is
generally supposed that the Goths and Vandals introduced the manufacture
and use of cider into the Mediterranean provinces and references to it
are made by Tertullian and the African Fathers. The use of cider can be
traced from Africa into the Biscayan provinces of Spain, and thence to
Normandy. It is supposed to have come into England at the time of the
conquest, but the word “cyder” is said to be Anglo-Saxon, and there is
reason to believe that it was known in the island as early as the time
of Henghist. As the mistletoe grew chiefly on the apple and the oak, the
former was regarded with great respect by the ancient Druids of Britain,
and even to this day in some parts of England, the antique custom 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 Devonshire
and Herefordshire. During the middle ages, the fruit was made the
pretext for massacring the oppressed tribes of Israel, as it was
supposed that the Hebrews used apples to entice children into their
homes to furnish their cannibal banquets.
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The different varieties of apples have all descended from a species of
crab found wild in most parts of Europe. Although there are two or three
species of wild crab belonging to this country, yet none of our
cultivated varieties have been raised from them, but rather from seeds
of the species brought here by the colonists from Europe—over two
hundred varieties of apples are known at the present time. As a rule,
the Apple is a hardy, slow-growing tree, with an irregular head, rigid
branches, roughish bark, and a close-grained wood. It thrives best in
limestone soils and deep loams. It will not flourish in wet soils or on
those of a peaty or sandy character. As a rule, the trees live to be
fifty or eighty years of age, but there are specimens now bearing fruit
in this country that are known to be over two hundred years old. The
wood is often stained black and used as ebony. It is also made into shoe
lasts, cog-wheels and small articles of furniture, and is greatly prized
in Italy for wood carving and statuary.
New and choice varieties of apples are derived from seeds planted to
produce stocks. One stock in ten thousand may prove better than the
original, and its virtues are perpetuated by layers, cuttings, graftings
and budding. The tree is not subject to disease. Insects, notably the
borer, the woolly aphis, the caterpillar, the apple moth and the bark
louse, have to be guarded against, and several blights occasionally
attack the foliage, but as a rule small loss is experienced from these
sources.
Charles S. Raddin.
Shed no tear!—O shed no tear,
The flower will bloom another year.
Weep no more!—O weep no more,
Young buds sleep in the roots’ white core.
Dry your eyes!—O dry your eyes
For I was taught in Paradise
To ease my breast of melodies—
Shed no tear!
Overhead!—look overhead
’Mong the blossoms white and red.
Look up! Look up!—I flutter now
On this flush pomegranate bough.
See me! ’Tis this silvery bill
Ever cures the good man’s ill.
Shed no tear!—O shed no tear!
The flower will bloom another year.
Adieu!—adieu!—I fly, adieu—
I vanish in the heaven’s blue.
Adieu!—adieu!
—John Keats.