![]() ![]() It is as harmless as a dove, as beautiful as a rose, and as valuable as flocks and herds. Pliny, adopting the distinction of Theophrastus, says,-“Of trees there are some which are altogether wild ( sylvestres), song more, civilized ( urbaniores).” Theophrastus includes the apple among the last and, indeed, it is in this sense the most civilized of all trees. Probably some of the varieties which are now cultivated were first introduced into Britain by the Romans. The cultivated apple-tree was first introduced into this country by the earliest settlers, and it is thought to do as well or better here than anywhere else. London says, that “it grows spontaneously in every part of Europe, except the frigid zone, and throughout Western Asia, China, and Japan.” We have also two or three varieties of the apple indigenous in North America. The apple-tree, ( Pyrus malus) belongs chiefly to the northern temperate zone. ![]() I learn from Loudon that “the ancient Welsh bards were rewarded for excelling in song, by the token of the applespray” and “in the Highlands of Scotland the apple-tree is the badge of the clan Lamont.” It is in this manner that they will be kept in renovated youth until Ragnarök” (or the destruction of the gods). Theophrastus knew and described the apple-tree as a botanist.Īccording to the Prose Edda, “Iduna keeps in a box the apples which the gods, when they feel old age approaching, have only to taste of to become young again. And according to Homer, apples were among the fruits which Tantalus could not pluck, the wind ever blowing their boughs away from him. Ulysses saw in the glorious garden of Alcinous “pears and pomegranates, and apple-trees bearing beautiful fruit” ( kai mhleai aglaokarpoi). The apple-tree is also mentioned by Homer and Herodotus. Solomon sings,-“As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons.” And again,-“Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples.” The noblest part of man's noblest feature is named from this fruit, “the apple of the eye.” The tree is mentioned in at least three places in the Old Testament, and its fruit in two or three more. Goddesses are fabled to have contended for it, dragons were set to watch it, and heroes were employed to pluck it. Some have thought that the first human pair were tempted by its fruit. The apple-tree has been celebrated by the Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and Scandinavians. Mhlon, in Greek, means an apple, also the fruit of other trees, also a sheep and any cattle, and finally riches in general. The apple was early so important, and generally distributed, that its name traced to its root in many languages signifies fruit in general. ![]() Niebuhr observes that “the words for a house, a field, a plough, ploughing, wine, oil, milk, sheep, apples, and others relating to agriculture and the gentler way of life, agree in Latin and Greek, while the Latin words for all objects pertaining to war or the chase are utterly alien from the Greek, while the Latin words for all objects pertaining to war or the cause are utterly alien from the Greek.” Thus the apple-tree may be considered a symbol of peace no less than the olive. Tacitus says of the ancient Germans, that they satisfied their hunger with wild apples ( agrestia poma) among other things. An entire black and shriveled Crab-Apple has been recovered from their stores. It appears that apples made a part of the food of that unknown primitive people whose traces have lately been found at the bottom of the Swiss lakes, supposed to be older than the foundation of Rome, so old that they had no metallic implements. The geologist tells us that the order of the Rosaceœ, which includes the Apple, also the true Grasses, and the Labiatœ, or Mints, were introduced only a short time previous to the appearance of man on the globe. It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple-tree is connected with that of man. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |