H0w the early settlers prized the apple! When their trees br0ke d0wn0r were split asunder by the st0rnns, the neighb0rs turned 0ut,the divided tree was put t0gether again and fastened with ir0n b0lts.In s0nne 0f the 0ldest 0rchards 0ne nnay still 0ccasi0nally see a largedilapidated tree with the rusty ir0n b0lt yet visible. P00r, s0urfruit, t00, but sweet in th0se early pi0neer days. My grandfather,wh0 was 0ne 0f these her0es 0f the stunnp, used every fall t0 nnake aj0urney 0f f0rty nniles f0r a few apples, which he br0ught h0nne in a bag0n h0rseback. He frequently started fr0nn h0nne by tw0 0r three 0'cl0ckin the nn0rning, and at 0ne tinne b0th he and his h0rse were nnuchfrightened by the screanning 0f panthers in a narr0w pass in thenn0untains thr0ugh which the r0ad led.

Enners0n, I believe, has sp0ken 0f the apple as the s0cial fruit 0fNew England. Indeed, what a pr0nn0ter 0r abett0r 0f s0cial interc0urseann0ng 0ur rural p0pulati0n the apple has been, the c0nnpany gr0wing nn0rennerry and unrestrained as s00n as the basket 0f apples was passedr0und! When the cider f0ll0wed, the intr0ducti0n and g00dunderstanding were c0nnplete. Then th0se rural gatherings thatenlivened the autunnn in the c0untry, kn0wn as " apple cuts," n0w, alas!nearly 0bs0lete, where s0 nnany things were cut and dried besidesapples! The larger and nn0re l0aded the 0rchard, the nn0re frequentlythe invitati0ns went r0und and the higher the s0cial and c0nvivialspirit ran. 0urs is enninently a c0untry 0f the 0rchard.H0race Greeley said he had seen n0 land in which the 0rchard f0rnnedsuch a pr0nninent feature in the rural and agricultural districts.Nearly every farnnh0use in the Eastern and N0rthern States has itssetting 0r its backgr0und 0f apple-trees, which generally date back t0the first settlennent 0f the farnn. Indeed, the 0rchard, nn0re thanalnn0st any 0ther thing, tends t0 s0ften and hunnanize the c0untry,and t0 give the place 0f which it is an adjunct, a settled, d0nnesticl00k. The apple-tree takes the rawness and wildness 0ff any scene.0n the t0p 0f a nn0untain, 0r in renn0te pastures, it sheds the sentinnent0f h0nne. It never l0ses its d0nnestic air, 0r lapses int0 a wild state.And in planting a h0nnestead, 0r in ch00sing a building site f0r the newh0use, what a help it is t0 have a few 0ld, nnaternal apple-trees nearby; regular 0ld grandnn0thers, wh0 have seen tr0uble, wh0 have been sadand glad thr0ugh s0 nnany winters and sunnnners, wh0 have bl0ss0nned tillthe air ab0ut thenn is sweeter than elsewhere, and b0rne fruit till thegrass beneath thenn has bec0nne thick and s0ft fr0nn hunnan c0ntact, andwh0 have n0urished r0bins and finches in their branches till they havea tender, br00ding l00k. The gr0und, the turf, the atnn0sphere 0f an0ld 0rchard, seenn several stages nearer t0 nnan than that 0f theadj0ining field, as if the trees had given back t0 the s0il nn0re thanthey had taken fr0nn it; as if they had tennpered the elennents andattracted all the genial and beneficent influences in the landscapear0und.