formerly, practised in Herefordshire. It consists in leaving a few
apples, which are called the gripples, on every tree, after the
general gathering, for the boys, who go with climbing-poles and bags
to collect them."

As for those I speak of, I pluck them as a wild fruit, native to
this quarter of the earth,--fruit of old trees that have been dying
ever since I was a boy and are not yet dead, frequented only by the
wood-pecker and the squirrel, deserted now by the owner, who has not
faith enough to look under their boughs. From the appearance of the
tree-top, at a little distance, you would expect nothing but lichens
to drop from it, but your faith is rewarded by finding the ground
strewn with spirited fruit,--some of it, perhaps, collected at
squirrel-holes, with the marks of their teeth by which they carried
them,--some containing a cricket or two silently feeding within, and
some, especially in damp days, a shelless snail. The very sticks and
stones lodged in the tree-top might have convinced you of the
savoriness of the fruit which has been so eagerly sought after in
past years.

I have seen no account of these among the "Fruits and Fruit-Trees of
America," though they are more memorable to my taste than the
grafted kinds; more racy and wild American flavors do they possess,
when October and November, when December and January, and perhaps
February and March even, have assuaged them somewhat. An old farmer
in my neighborhood, who always selects the right word, says that
"they have a kind of bow-arrow tang."

Apples for grafting appear to have been selected commonly, not so
much for their spirited flavor, as for their mildness, their size,