diff options
Diffstat (limited to '4066-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 4066-0.txt | 1409 |
1 files changed, 1409 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/4066-0.txt b/4066-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1bf9dfc --- /dev/null +++ b/4066-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1409 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Wild Apples, by Henry David Thoreau + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: Wild Apples + +Author: Henry David Thoreau + +Release Date: November 1, 2001 [eBook #4066] +[Most recently updated: February 10, 2022] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILD APPLES *** + + + + +Wild Apples + +by Henry David Thoreau + + +Contents + + THE HISTORY OF THE APPLE-TREE + THE WILD APPLE + THE CRAB + HOW THE WILD APPLE GROWS + THE FRUIT, AND ITS FLAVOR + THEIR BEAUTY + THE NAMING OF THEM + THE LAST GLEANING + THE “FROZEN-THAWED” APPLE + + + + +THE HISTORY OF THE APPLE-TREE + + +It is remarkable how closely the history of the Apple-tree is connected +with that of man. The geologist tells us that the order of the +_Rosaceæ_, which includes the Apple, also the true Grasses, and the +_Labiatæ_, or Mints, were introduced only a short time previous to the +appearance of man on the globe. + +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. An entire black and +shrivelled Crab-Apple has been recovered from their stores. + +Tacitus says of the ancient Germans that they satisfied their hunger +with wild apples, among other things. + +Niebuhr[1] 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 ways 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.” Thus the apple-tree may be +considered a symbol of peace no less than the olive. + + [1] A German historical critic of ancient life. + + +The apple was early so important, and so generally distributed, that +its name traced to its root in many languages signifies fruit in +general. Μῆλον (Mēlon), in Greek, means an apple, also the fruit of +other trees, also a sheep and any cattle, and finally riches in +general. + +The apple-tree has been celebrated by the Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and +Scandinavians. Some have thought that the first human pair were tempted +by its fruit. Goddesses are fabled to have contended for it, dragons +were set to watch it, and heroes were employed to pluck it.[2] + + [2] The Greek myths especially referred to are The Choice of Paris and + The Apples of the Hesperides. + + +The tree is mentioned in at least three places in the Old Testament, +and its fruit in two or three more. 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 apple-tree is also mentioned by Homer and Herodotus. Ulysses saw in +the glorious garden of Alcinous “pears and pomegranates and apple-trees +bearing beautiful fruit.” And according to Homer, apples were among the +fruits which Tantalus could not pluck, the wind ever blowing their +boughs away from him. Theophrastus knew and described the apple-tree as +a botanist. + +According to the prose Edda,[3] “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. It is in this manner that they will be kept in +renovated youth until Ragnarök” (or the destruction of the Gods). + + [3] The stories of the early Scandinavians. + + +I learn from Loudon[4] that “the ancient Welsh bards were rewarded for +excelling in song by the token of the apple-spray;” and “in the +Highlands of Scotland the apple-tree is the badge of the clan Lamont.” + + [4] An English authority on the culture of orchards and gardens. + + +The apple-tree belongs chiefly to the northern temperate zone. Loudon +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 cultivated apple-tree was first introduced into this country by the +earliest settlers, and is thought to do as well or better here than +anywhere else. Probably some of the varieties which are now cultivated +were first introduced into Britain by the Romans. + +Pliny, adopting the distinction of Theophrastus, says, “Of trees there +are some which are altogether wild, some more civilized.” Theophrastus +includes the apple among the last; and, indeed, it is in this sense the +most civilized of all trees. It is as harmless as a dove, as beautiful +as a rose, and as valuable as flocks and herds. It has been longer +cultivated than any other, and so is more humanized; and who knows but, +like the dog, it will at length be no longer traceable to its wild +original? It migrates with man, like the dog and horse and cow; first, +perchance, from Greece to Italy, thence to England, thence to America; +and our Western emigrant is still marching steadily toward the setting +sun with the seeds of the apple in his pocket, or perhaps a few young +trees strapped to his load. At least a million apple-trees are thus set +farther westward this year than any cultivated ones grew last year. +Consider how the Blossom-Week, like the Sabbath, is thus annually +spreading over the prairies; for when man migrates he carries with him +not only his birds, quadrupeds, insects, vegetables, and his very +sward, but his orchard also. + +The leaves and tender twigs are an agreeable food to many domestic +animals, as the cow, horse, sheep, and goat; and the fruit is sought +after by the first, as well as by the hog. Thus there appears to have +existed a natural alliance between these animals and this tree from the +first. “The fruit of the Crab in the forests of France” is said to be +“a great resource for the wild boar.” + +Not only the Indian, but many indigenous insects, birds, and +quadrupeds, welcomed the apple-tree to these shores. The +tent-caterpillar saddled her eggs on the very first twig that was +formed, and it has since shared her affections with the wild cherry; +and the canker-worm also in a measure abandoned the elm to feed on it. +As it grew apace, the bluebird, robin, cherry-bird, king-bird, and many +more, came with haste and built their nests and warbled in its boughs, +and so became orchard-birds, and multiplied more than ever. It was an +era in the history of their race. The downy woodpecker found such a +savory morsel under its bark, that he perforated it in a ring quite +round the tree before he left it,—a thing which he had never done +before, to my knowledge. It did not take the partridge long to find out +how sweet its buds were, and every winter eve she flew, and still +flies, from the wood, to pluck them, much to the farmer’s sorrow. The +rabbit, too, was not slow to learn the taste of its twigs and bark; and +when the fruit was ripe, the squirrel half-rolled, half-carried it to +his hole; and even the musquash crept up the bank from the brook at +evening, and greedily devoured it, until he had worn a path in the +grass there; and when it was frozen and thawed, the crow and the jay +were glad to taste it occasionally. The owl crept into the first +apple-tree that became hollow, and fairly hooted with delight, finding +it just the place for him; so, settling down into it, he has remained +there ever since. + +My theme being the Wild Apple, I will merely glance at some of the +seasons in the annual growth of the cultivated apple, and pass on to my +special province. + +The flowers of the apple are perhaps the most beautiful of any tree, so +copious and so delicious to both sight and scent. The walker is +frequently tempted to turn and linger near some more than usually +handsome one, whose blossoms are two thirds expanded. How superior it +is in these respects to the pear, whose blossoms are neither colored +nor fragrant! + +By the middle of July, green apples are so large as to remind us of +coddling, and of the autumn. The sward is commonly strewed with little +ones which fall still-born, as it were,—Nature thus thinning them for +us. The Roman writer Palladius said: “If apples are inclined to fall +before their time, a stone placed in a split root will retain them.” +Some such notion, still surviving, may account for some of the stones +which we see placed to be overgrown in the forks of trees. They have a +saying in Suffolk, England,— + +“At Michaelmas time, or a little before, +Half an apple goes to the core.” + + +Early apples begin to be ripe about the first of August; but I think +that none of them are so good to eat as some to smell. One is worth +more to scent your handkerchief with than any perfume which they sell +in the shops. The fragrance of some fruits is not to be forgotten, +along with that of flowers. Some gnarly apple which I pick up in the +road reminds me by its fragrance of all the wealth of +Pomona,[5]—carrying me forward to those days when they will be +collected in golden and ruddy heaps in the orchards and about the +cider-mills. + + [5] The Roman goddess of fruit and fruit-trees. + + +A week or two later, as you are going by orchards or gardens, +especially in the evenings, you pass through a little region possessed +by the fragrance of ripe apples, and thus enjoy them without price, and +without robbing anybody. + +There is thus about all natural products a certain volatile and +ethereal quality which represents their highest value, and which cannot +be vulgarized, or bought and sold. No mortal has ever enjoyed the +perfect flavor of any fruit, and only the godlike among men begin to +taste its ambrosial qualities. For nectar and ambrosia are only those +fine flavors of every earthly fruit which our coarse palates fail to +perceive,—just as we occupy the heaven of the gods without knowing it. +When I see a particularly mean man carrying a load of fair and fragrant +early apples to market, I seem to see a contest going on between him +and his horse, on the one side, and the apples on the other, and, to my +mind, the apples always gain it. Pliny says that apples are the +heaviest of all things, and that the oxen begin to sweat at the mere +sight of a load of them. Our driver begins to lose his load the moment +he tries to transport them to where they do not belong, that is, to any +but the most beautiful. Though he gets out from time to time, and feels +of them, and thinks they are all there, I see the stream of their +evanescent and celestial qualities going to heaven from his cart, while +the pulp and skin and core only are going to market. They are not +apples, but pomace. Are not these still Iduna’s apples, the taste of +which keeps the gods forever young? and think you that they will let +Loki or Thjassi carry them off to Jötunheim,[6] while they grow +wrinkled and gray? No, for Ragnarök, or the destruction of the gods, is +not yet. + + [6] Jötunheim (_Ye_(r)_t′-un-hime_) in Scandinavian mythology was the + home of the Jotun or Giants. Loki was a descendant of the gods, and a + companion of the Giants. Thjassi (_Tee-assy_) was a giant. + + +There is another thinning of the fruit, commonly near the end of August +or in September, when the ground is strewn with windfalls; and this +happens especially when high winds occur after rain. In some orchards +you may see fully three quarters of the whole crop on the ground, lying +in a circular form beneath the trees, yet hard and green,—or, if it is +a hillside, rolled far down the hill. However, it is an ill wind that +blows nobody any good. All the country over, people are busy picking up +the windfalls, and this will make them cheap for early apple-pies. + +In October, the leaves falling, the apples are more distinct on the +trees. I saw one year in a neighboring town some trees fuller of fruit +than I remember to have ever seen before, small yellow apples hanging +over the road. The branches were gracefully drooping with their weight, +like a barberry-bush, so that the whole tree acquired a new character. +Even the topmost branches, instead of standing erect, spread and +drooped in all directions; and there were so many poles supporting the +lower ones, that they looked like pictures of banian-trees. As an old +English manuscript says, “The mo appelen the tree bereth the more sche +boweth to the folk.” + +Surely the apple is the noblest of fruits. Let the most beautiful or +the swiftest have it. That should be the “going” price of apples. + +Between the fifth and twentieth of October I see the barrels lie under +the trees. And perhaps I talk with one who is selecting some choice +barrels to fulfil an order. He turns a specked one over many times +before he leaves it out. If I were to tell what is passing in my mind, +I should say that every one was specked which he had handled; for he +rubs off all the bloom, and those fugacious ethereal qualities leave +it. Cool evenings prompt the farmers to make haste, and at length I see +only the ladders here and there left leaning against the trees. + +It would be well if we accepted these gifts with more joy and +gratitude, and did not think it enough simply to put a fresh load of +compost about the tree. Some old English customs are suggestive at +least. I find them described chiefly in Brand’s “Popular Antiquities.” +It appears that “on Christmas eve the farmers and their men in +Devonshire take a large bowl of cider, with a toast in it, and carrying +it in state to the orchard, they salute the apple-trees with much +ceremony, in order to make them bear well the next season.” This +salutation consists in “throwing some of the cider about the roots of +the tree, placing bits of the toast on the branches,” and then, +“encircling one of the best bearing trees in the orchard, they drink +the following toast three several times:— + + “‘Here’s to thee, old apple-tree, +Whence thou mayst bud, and whence thou mayst blow, +And whence thou mayst bear apples enow! + Hats-full! caps-full! + Bushel, bushel, sacks-full! + And my pockets full, too! Hurra!’” + + +Also what was called “apple-howling” used to be practised in various +counties of England on New-Year’s eve. A troop of boys visited the +different orchards, and, encircling the apple-trees, repeated the +following words:— + +“Stand fast, root! bear well, top! +Pray God send us a good howling crop: +Every twig, apples big; +Every bow, apples enow!” + + +“They then shout in chorus, one of the boys accompanying them on a +cow’s horn. During this ceremony they rap the trees with their sticks.” +This is called “wassailing” the trees, and is thought by some to be “a +relic of the heathen sacrifice to Pomona.” + +Herrick sings,— + +“Wassaile the trees that they may beare +You many a plum and many a peare; +For more or less fruits they will bring +As you so give them wassailing.” + + +Our poets have as yet a better right to sing of cider than of wine; but +it behooves them to sing better than English Phillips did, else they +will do no credit to their Muse. + + + + +THE WILD APPLE + + +So much for the more civilized apple-trees (_urbaniores_, as Pliny +calls them). I love better to go through the old orchards of ungrafted +apple-trees, at whatever season of the year,—so irregularly planted: +sometimes two trees standing close together; and the rows so devious +that you would think that they not only had grown while the owner was +sleeping, but had been set out by him in a somnambulic state. The rows +of grafted fruit will never tempt me to wander amid them like these. +But I now, alas, speak rather from memory than from any recent +experience, such ravages have been made! + +Some soils, like a rocky tract called the Easterbrooks Country in my +neighborhood, are so suited to the apple, that it will grow faster in +them without any care, or if only the ground is broken up once a year, +than it will in many places with any amount of care. The owners of this +tract allow that the soil is excellent for fruit, but they say that it +is so rocky that they have not patience to plough it, and that, +together with the distance, is the reason why it is not cultivated. +There are, or were recently, extensive orchards there standing without +order. Nay, they spring up wild and bear well there in the midst of +pines, birches, maples, and oaks. I am often surprised to see rising +amid these trees the rounded tops of apple-trees glowing with red or +yellow fruit, in harmony with the autumnal tints of the forest. + +Going up the side of a cliff about the first of November, I saw a +vigorous young apple-tree, which, planted by birds or cows, had shot up +amid the rocks and open woods there, and had now much fruit on it, +uninjured by the frosts, when all cultivated apples were gathered. It +was a rank wild growth, with many green leaves on it still, and made an +impression of thorniness. The fruit was hard and green, but looked as +if it would be palatable in the winter. Some was dangling on the twigs, +but more half-buried in the wet leaves under the tree, or rolled far +down the hill amid the rocks. The owner knows nothing of it. The day +was not observed when it first blossomed, nor when it first bore fruit, +unless by the chickadee. There was no dancing on the green beneath it +in its honor, and now there is no hand to pluck its fruit,—which is +only gnawed by squirrels, as I perceive. It has done double duty,—not +only borne this crop, but each twig has grown a foot into the air. And +this is _such_ fruit! bigger than many berries, we must admit, and +carried home will be sound and palatable next spring. What care I for +Iduna’s apples so long as I can get these? + +When I go by this shrub thus late and hardy, and see its dangling +fruit, I respect the tree, and I am grateful for Nature’s bounty, even +though I cannot eat it. Here on this rugged and woody hillside has +grown an apple-tree, not planted by man, no relic of a former orchard, +but a natural growth, like the pines and oaks. Most fruits which we +prize and use depend entirely on our care. Corn and grain, potatoes, +peaches, melons, etc., depend altogether on our planting; but the apple +emulates man’s independence and enterprise. It is not simply carried, +as I have said, but, like him, to some extent, it has migrated to this +New World, and is even, here and there, making its way amid the +aboriginal trees; just as the ox and dog and horse sometimes run wild +and maintain themselves. + +Even the sourest and crabbedest apple, growing in the most unfavorable +position, suggests such thoughts as these, it is so noble a fruit. + + + + +THE CRAB + + +Nevertheless, _our_ wild apple is wild only like myself, perchance, who +belong not to the aboriginal race here, but have strayed into the woods +from the cultivated stock. Wilder still, as I have said, there grows +elsewhere in this country a native and aboriginal Crab-Apple, “whose +nature has not yet been modified by cultivation.” It is found from +Western New York to Minnesota and southward. Michaux[7] says that its +ordinary height “is fifteen or eighteen feet, but it is sometimes found +twenty-five or thirty feet high,” and that the large ones “exactly +resemble the common apple-tree.” “The flowers are white mingled with +rose-color, and are collected in corymbs.” They are remarkable for +their delicious odor. The fruit, according to him, is about an inch and +a half in diameter, and is intensely acid. Yet they make fine +sweet-meats, and also cider of them. He concludes, that “if, on being +cultivated, it does not yield new and palatable varieties, it will at +least be celebrated for the beauty of its flowers, and for the +sweetness of its perfume.” + + [7] Pronounced _mee-shō;_ a French botanist and traveller. + + +I never saw the Crab-Apple till May, 1861. I had heard of it through +Michaux, but more modern botanists, so far as I know, have not treated +it as of any peculiar importance. Thus it was a half-fabulous tree to +me. I contemplated a pilgrimage to the “Glades,” a portion of +Pennsylvania, where it was said to grow to perfection. I thought of +sending to a nursery for it, but doubted if they had it, or would +distinguish it from European varieties. At last I had occasion to go to +Minnesota, and on entering Michigan I began to notice from the cars a +tree with handsome rose-colored flowers. At first I thought it some +variety of thorn; but it was not long before the truth flashed on me, +that this was my long-sought Crab-Apple. It was the prevailing +flowering shrub or tree to be seen from the cars at that season of the +year,—about the middle of May. But the cars never stopped before one, +and so I was launched on the bosom of the Mississippi without having +touched one, experiencing the fate of Tantalus. On arriving at St. +Anthony’s Falls, I was sorry to be told that I was too far north for +the Crab-Apple. Nevertheless I succeeded in finding it about eight +miles west of the Falls; touched it and smelled it, and secured a +lingering corymb of flowers for my herbarium. This must have been near +its northern limit. + + + + +HOW THE WILD APPLE GROWS + + +But though these are indigenous, like the Indians, I doubt whether they +are any hardier than those back-woodsmen among the apple-trees, which, +though descended from cultivated stocks, plant themselves in distant +fields and forests, where the soil is favorable to them. I know of no +trees which have more difficulties to contend with, and which more +sturdily resist their foes. These are the ones whose story we have to +tell. It oftentimes reads thus:— + +Near the beginning of May, we notice little thickets of apple-trees +just springing up in the pastures where cattle have been,—as the rocky +ones of our Easter-brooks Country, or the top of Nobscot Hill in +Sudbury. One or two of these perhaps survive the drought and other +accidents,—their very birthplace defending them against the encroaching +grass and some other dangers, at first. + +In two years’ time ’t had thus + Reached the level of the rocks, +Admired the stretching world, + Nor feared the wandering flocks. + +But at this tender age + Its sufferings began: +There came a browsing ox + And cut it down a span. + + +This time, perhaps, the ox does not notice it amid the grass; but the +next year, when it has grown more stout, he recognizes it for a +fellow-emigrant from the old country, the flavor of whose leaves and +twigs he well knows; and though at first he pauses to welcome it, and +express his surprise, and gets for answer, “The same cause that brought +you here brought me,” he nevertheless browses it again, reflecting, it +may be, that he has some title to it. + +Thus cut down annually, it does not despair; but, putting forth two +short twigs for every one cut off, it spreads out low along the ground +in the hollows or between the rocks, growing more stout and scrubby, +until it forms, not a tree as yet, but a little pyramidal, stiff, +twiggy mass, almost as solid and impenetrable as a rock. Some of the +densest and most impenetrable clumps of bushes that I have ever seen, +as well, on account of the closeness and stubbornness of their branches +as of their thorns, have been these wild-apple scrubs. They are more +like the scrubby fir and black spruce on which you stand, and sometimes +walk, on the tops of mountains, where cold is the demon they contend +with, than anything else. No wonder they are prompted to grow thorns at +last, to defend themselves against such foes. In their thorniness, +however, there is no malice, only some malic acid. + +The rocky pastures of the tract I have referred to—for they maintain +their ground best in a rocky field—are thickly sprinkled with these +little tufts, reminding you often of some rigid gray mosses or lichens, +and you see thousands of little trees just springing up between them, +with the seed still attached to them. + +Being regularly clipped all around each year by the cows, as a hedge +with shears, they are often of a perfect conical or pyramidal form, +from one to four feet high, and more or less sharp, as if trimmed by +the gardener’s art. In the pastures on Nobscot Hill and its spurs they +make fine dark shadows when the sun is low. They are also an excellent +covert from hawks for many small birds that roost and build in them. +Whole flocks perch in them at night, and I have seen three robins’ +nests in one which was six feet in diameter. + +No doubt many of these are already old trees, if you reckon from the +day they were planted, but infants still when you consider their +development and the long life before them. I counted the annual rings +of some which were just one foot high, and as wide as high, and found +that they were about twelve years old, but quite sound and thrifty! +They were so low that they were unnoticed by the walker, while many of +their contemporaries from the nurseries were already bearing +considerable crops. But what you gain in time is perhaps in this case, +too, lost in power,—that is, in the vigor of the tree. This is their +pyramidal state. + +The cows continue to browse them thus for twenty years or more, keeping +them down and compelling them to spread, until at last they are so +broad that they become their own fence, when some interior shoot, which +their foes cannot reach, darts upward with joy: for it has not +forgotten its high calling, and bears its own peculiar fruit in +triumph. + +Such are the tactics by which it finally defeats its bovine foes. Now, +if you have watched the progress of a particular shrub, you will see +that it is no longer a simple pyramid or cone, but out of its apex +there rises a sprig or two, growing more lustily perchance than an +orchard-tree, since the plant now devotes the whole of its repressed +energy to these upright parts. In a short time these become a small +tree, an inverted pyramid resting on the apex of the other, so that the +whole has now the form of a vast hour-glass. The spreading bottom, +having served its purpose, finally disappears, and the generous tree +permits the now harmless cows to come in and stand in its shade, and +rub against and redden its trunk, which has grown in spite of them, and +even to taste a part of its fruit, and so disperse the seed. + +Thus the cows create their own shade and food; and the tree, its +hour-glass being inverted, lives a second life, as it were. + +It is an important question with some nowadays, whether you should trim +young apple-trees as high as your nose or as high as your eyes. The ox +trims them up as high as he can reach, and that is about the right +height, I think. + +In spite of wandering kine and other adverse circumstance, that +despised shrub, valued only by small birds as a covert and shelter from +hawks, has its blossom-week at last, and in course of time its harvest, +sincere, though small. + +By the end of some October, when its leaves have fallen, I frequently +see such a central sprig, whose progress I have watched, when I thought +it had forgotten its destiny, as I had, bearing its first crop of small +green or yellow or rosy fruit, which the cows cannot get at over the +bushy and thorny hedge which surrounds it; and I make haste to taste +the new and undescribed variety. We have all heard of the numerous +varieties of fruit invented by Van Mons[8] and Knight.[9] This is the +system of Van Cow, and she has invented far more and more memorable +varieties than both of them. + + [8] A Belgian chemist and horticulturist. + + + [9] An English vegetable physiologist. + + +Through what hardships it may attain to bear a sweet fruit! Though +somewhat small, it may prove equal, if not superior, in flavor to that +which has grown in a garden,—will perchance be all the sweeter and more +palatable for the very difficulties it has had to contend with. Who +knows but this chance wild fruit, planted by a cow or a bird on some +remote and rocky hillside, where it is as yet unobserved by man, may be +the choicest of all its kind, and foreign potentates shall hear of it, +and royal societies seek to propagate it, though the virtues of the +perhaps truly crabbed owner of the soil may never be heard of,—at +least, beyond the limits of his village? It was thus the Porter and the +Baldwin grew. + +Every wild-apple shrub excites our expectation thus, somewhat as every +wild child. It is, perhaps, a prince in disguise. What a lesson to man! +So are human beings, referred to the highest standard, the celestial +fruit which they suggest and aspire to bear, browsed on by fate; and +only the most persistent and strongest genius defends itself and +prevails, sends a tender scion upward at last, and drops its perfect +fruit on the ungrateful earth. Poets and philosophers and statesmen +thus spring up in the country pastures, and outlast the hosts of +unoriginal men. + +Such is always the pursuit of knowledge. The celestial fruits, the +golden apples of the Hesperides, are ever guarded by a hundred-headed +dragon which never sleeps, so that it is an herculean labor to pluck +them. + +This is one and the most remarkable way in which the wild apple is +propagated; but commonly it springs up at wide intervals in woods and +swamps, and by the sides of roads, as the soil may suit it, and grows +with comparative rapidity. Those which grow in dense woods are very +tall and slender. I frequently pluck from these trees a perfectly mild +and tamed fruit. As Palladius says, “And the ground is strewn with the +fruit of an unbidden apple-tree.” + +It is an old notion, that, if these wild trees do not bear a valuable +fruit of their own, they are the best stocks by which to transmit to +posterity the most highly prized qualities of others. However, I am not +in search of stocks, but the wild fruit itself, whose fierce gust has +suffered no “inteneration.” It is not my + + “highest plot +To plant the Bergamot.” + + + + +THE FRUIT, AND ITS FLAVOR + + +The time for wild apples is the last of October and the first of +November. They then get to be palatable, for they ripen late, and they +are still, perhaps, as beautiful as ever. I make a great account of +these fruits, which the farmers do not think it worth the while to +gather,—wild flavors of the Muse, vivacious and inspiriting. The farmer +thinks that he has better in his barrels; but he is mistaken, unless he +has a walker’s appetite and imagination, neither of which can he have. + +Such as grow quite wild, and are left out till the first of November, I +presume that the owner does not mean to gather. They belong to children +as wild as themselves,—to certain active boys that I know,—to the +wild-eyed woman of the fields, to whom nothing comes amiss, who gleans +after all the world,—and, moreover, to us walkers. We have met with +them, and they are ours. These rights, long enough insisted upon, have +come to be an institution in some old countries, where they have +learned how to live. I hear that “the custom of grippling, which may be +called apple-gleaning, is, or was 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, and +bearing qualities,—not so much for their beauty, as for their fairness +and soundness. Indeed, I have no faith in the selected lists of +pomological gentlemen. Their “Favorites” and “Non-suches” and +“Seek-no-farthers,” when I have fruited them, commonly turn out very +tame and forgetable. They are eaten with comparatively little zest, and +have no real _tang_ nor _smack_ to them. + +What if some of these wildings are acrid and puckery, genuine +_verjuice_, do they not still belong to the _Pomaceæ_, which are +uniformly innocent and kind to our race? I still begrudge them to the +cider-mill. Perhaps they are not fairly ripe yet. + +No wonder that these small and high-colored apples are thought to make +the best cider. Loudon quotes from the Herefordshire Report that +“apples of a small size are always, if equal in quality, to be +preferred to those of a larger size, in order that the rind and kernel +may bear the greatest proportion to the pulp, which affords the weakest +and most watery juice.” And he says, that, “to prove this, Dr. Symonds +of Hereford, about the year 1800, made one hogshead of cider entirely +from the rinds and cores of apples, and another from the pulp only, +when the first was found of extraordinary strength and flavor, while +the latter was sweet and insipid.” + +Evelyn[10] says that the “Red-strake” was the favorite cider-apple in +his day; and he quotes one Dr. Newburg as saying, “In Jersey ’t is a +general observation, as I hear, that the more of red any apple has in +its rind, the more proper it is for this use. Pale-faced apples they +exclude as much as may be from their cider-vat.” This opinion still +prevails. + + [10] An English writer of the seventeenth century. + + +All apples are good in November. Those which the farmer leaves out as +unsalable, and unpalatable to those who frequent the markets, are +choicest fruit to the walker. But it is remarkable that the wild apple, +which I praise as so spirited and racy when eaten in the fields or +woods, being brought into the house, has frequently a harsh and crabbed +taste. The Saunter-er’s Apple not even the saunterer can eat in the +house. The palate rejects it there, as it does haws and acorns, and +demands a tamed one; for there you miss the November air, which is the +sauce it is to be eaten with. Accordingly, when Tityrus, seeing the +lengthening shadows, invites Melibœus to go home and pass the night +with him, he promises him _mild_ apples and soft chestnuts. I +frequently pluck wild apples of so rich and spicy a flavor that I +wonder all orchardists do not get a scion from that tree, and I fail +not to bring home my pockets full. But perchance, when I take one out +of my desk and taste it in my chamber I find it unexpectedly +crude,—sour enough to set a squirrel’s teeth on edge and make a jay +scream. + +These apples have hung in the wind and frost and rain till they have +absorbed the qualities of the weather or season, and thus are highly +_seasoned_, and they _pierce_ and _sting_ and _permeate_ us with their +spirit. They must be eaten in _season_, accordingly,—that is, +out-of-doors. + +To appreciate the wild and sharp flavors of these October fruits, it is +necessary that you be breathing the sharp October or November air. The +out-door air and exercise which the walker gets give a different tone +to his palate, and he craves a fruit which the sedentary would call +harsh and crabbed. They must be eaten in the fields, when your system +is all aglow with exercise, when the frosty weather nips your fingers, +the wind rattles the bare boughs or rustles the few remaining leaves, +and the jay is heard screaming around. What is sour in the house a +bracing walk makes sweet. Some of these apples might be labelled, “To +be eaten in the wind.” + +Of course no flavors are thrown away; they are intended for the taste +that is up to them. Some apples have two distinct flavors, and perhaps +one-half of them must be eaten in the house, the other out-doors. One +Peter Whitney wrote from Northborough in 1782, for the Proceedings of +the Boston Academy, describing an apple-tree in that town “producing +fruit of opposite qualities, part of the same apple being frequently +sour and the other sweet;” also some all sour, and others all sweet, +and this diversity on all parts of the tree. + +There is a wild apple on Nawshawtuck Hill in my town which has to me a +peculiarly pleasant bitter tang, not perceived till it is +three-quarters tasted. It remains on the tongue. As you eat it, it +smells exactly like a squash-bug. It is a sort of triumph to eat and +relish it. + +I hear that the fruit of a kind of plum-tree in Provence is “called +_Prunes sibarelles_, because it is impossible to whistle after having +eaten them, from their sourness.” But perhaps they were only eaten in +the house and in summer, and if tried out-of-doors in a stinging +atmosphere, who knows but you could whistle an octave higher and +clearer? + +In the fields only are the sours and bitters of Nature appreciated; +just as the wood-chopper eats his meal in a sunny glade, in the middle +of a winter day, with content, basks in a sunny ray there, and dreams +of summer in a degree of cold which, experienced in a chamber, would +make a student miserable. They who are at work abroad are not cold, but +rather it is they who sit shivering in houses. As with temperatures, so +with flavors; as with cold and heat, so with sour and sweet. This +natural raciness, the sours and bitters which the diseased palate +refuses, are the true condiments. + +Let your condiments be in the condition of your senses. To appreciate +the flavor of these wild apples requires vigorous and healthy senses, +_papillæ_[11] firm and erect on the tongue and palate, not easily +flattened and tamed. + + [11] A Latin word, accent on the second syllable, meaning here the + rough surface of the tongue and palate. + + +From my experience with wild apples, I can understand that there may be +reason for a savage’s preferring many kinds of food which the civilized +man rejects. The former has the palate of an outdoor man. It takes a +savage or wild taste to appreciate a wild fruit. + +What a healthy out-of-door appetite it takes to relish the apple of +life, the apple of the world, then! + +“Nor is it every apple I desire, + Nor that which pleases every palate best; +’T is not the lasting Deuxan I require, + Nor yet the red-cheeked Greening I request, +Nor that which first beshrewed the name of wife, +Nor that whose beauty caused the golden strife: +No, no! bring me an apple from the tree of life.” + + +So there is one _thought_ for the field, another for the house. I would +have my thoughts, like wild apples, to be food for walkers, and will +not warrant them to be palatable, if tasted in the house. + + + + +THEIR BEAUTY + + +Almost all wild apples are handsome. They cannot be too gnarly and +crabbed and rusty to look at. The gnarliest will have some redeeming +traits even to the eye. You will discover some evening redness dashed +or sprinkled on some protuberance or in some cavity. It is rare that +the summer lets an apple go without streaking or spotting it on some +part of its sphere. It will have some red stains, commemorating the +mornings and evenings it has witnessed; some dark and rusty blotches, +in memory of the clouds and foggy, mildewy days that have passed over +it; and a spacious field of green reflecting the general face of +Nature,—green even as the fields; or a yellow ground, which implies a +milder flavor,—yellow as the harvest, or russet as the hills. + +Apples, these I mean, unspeakably fair,—apples not of Discord, but +Concord! Yet not so rare but that the homeliest may have a share. +Painted by the frosts, some a uniform clear bright yellow, or red, or +crimson, as if their spheres had regularly revolved, and enjoyed the +influence of the sun on all sides alike,—some with the faintest pink +blush imaginable,—some brindled with deep red streaks like a cow, or +with hundreds of fine blood-red rays running regularly from the +stem-dimple to the blossom-end, like meridional lines, on a +straw-colored ground,—some touched with a greenish rust, like a fine +lichen, here and there, with crimson blotches or eyes more or less +confluent and fiery when wet,—and others gnarly, and freckled or +peppered all over on the stem side with fine crimson spots on a white +ground, as if accidentally sprinkled from the brush of Him who paints +the autumn leaves. Others, again, are sometimes red inside, perfused +with a beautiful blush, fairy food, too beautiful to eat,—apple of the +Hesperides, apple of the evening sky! But like shells and pebbles on +the sea-shore, they must be seen as they sparkle amid the withering +leaves in some dell in the woods, in the autumnal air, or as they lie +in the wet grass, and not when they have wilted and faded in the house. + + + + +THE NAMING OF THEM + + +It would be a pleasant pastime to find suitable names for the hundred +varieties which go to a single heap at the cider-mill. Would it not tax +a man’s invention,—no one to be named after a man, and all in the +_lingua vernacula?_[12] Who shall stand god-father at the christening +of the wild apples? It would exhaust the Latin and Greek languages, if +they were used, and make the _lingua vernacula_ flag. We should have to +call in the sunrise and the sunset, the rainbow and the autumn woods +and the wild flowers, and the woodpecker and the purple finch, and the +squirrel and the jay and the butterfly, the November traveller and the +truant boy, to our aid. + + [12] _Lingua vernacula_, common speech. + + +In 1836 there were in the garden of the London Horticultural Society +more than fourteen hundred distinct sorts. But here are species which +they have not in their catalogue, not to mention the varieties which +our Crab might yield to cultivation. Let us enumerate a few of these. I +find myself compelled, after all, to give the Latin names of some for +the benefit of those who live where English is not spoken,—for they are +likely to have a world-wide reputation. + +There is, first of all, the Wood-Apple (_Malus sylvatica_); the +Blue-Jay Apple; the Apple which grows in Dells in the Woods +(_sylvestrivallis_), also in Hollows in Pastures (_campestrivallis_); +the Apple that grows in an old Cellar-Hole (_Malus cellaris_); the +Meadow-Apple; the Partridge-Apple; the Truant’s Apple (_Cessatoris_), +which no boy will ever go by without knocking off some, however _late_ +it may be; the Saunterer’s Apple,—you must lose yourself before you can +find the way to that; the Beauty of the Air (_Decus Aëris_); +December-Eating; the Frozen-Thawed (_gelato-soluta_), good only in that +state; the Concord Apple, possibly the same with the +_Musketa-quidensis;_ the Assabet Apple; the Brindled Apple; Wine of New +England; the Chickaree Apple; the Green Apple (_Malus viridis_);—this +has many synonyms; in an imperfect state, it is the _Cholera morbifera +aut dysenterifera, puerulis dilectissima;_[13]—the Apple which Atalanta +stopped to pick up; the Hedge-Apple (_Malus Sepium_); the Slug-Apple +(_limacea_); the Railroad-Apple, which perhaps came from a core thrown +out of the cars; the Apple whose Fruit we tasted in our Youth; our +Particular Apple, not to be found in any catalogue,—_Pedestrium +Solatium;_[14] also the Apple where hangs the Forgotten Scythe; Iduna’s +Apples, and the Apples which Loki found in the Wood; and a great many +more I have on my list, too numerous to mention,—all of them good. As +Bodæus exclaims, referring to the culti-vated kinds, and adapting +Virgil to his case, so I, adapting Bodæus,— + +“Not if I had a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths, +An iron voice, could I describe all the forms +And reckon up all the names of these _wild apples_.” + + + [13] The apple that brings the disease of cholera and of dysentery, + the fruit that small boys like best. + + + [14] The tramp’s comfort. + + + + +THE LAST GLEANING + + +By the middle of November the wild apples have lost some of their +brilliancy, and have chiefly fallen. A great part are decayed on the +ground, and the sound ones are more palatable than before. The note of +the chickadee sounds now more distinct, as you wander amid the old +trees, and the autumnal dandelion is half-closed and tearful. But +still, if you are a skilful gleaner, you may get many a pocket-full +even of grafted fruit, long after apples are supposed to be gone +out-of-doors. I know a Blue-Pearmain tree, growing within the edge of a +swamp, almost as good as wild. You would not suppose that there was any +fruit left there, on the first survey, but you must look according to +system. Those which lie exposed are quite brown and rotten now, or +perchance a few still show one blooming cheek here and there amid the +wet leaves. Nevertheless, with experienced eyes, I explore amid the +bare alders and the huckleberry-bushes and the withered sedge, and in +the crevices of the rocks, which are full of leaves, and pry under the +fallen and decaying ferns, which, with apple and alder leaves, thickly +strew the ground. For I know that they lie concealed, fallen into +hollows long since and covered up by the leaves of the tree itself,—a +proper kind of packing. From these lurking-places, anywhere within the +circumference of the tree, I draw forth the fruit, all wet and glossy, +maybe nibbled by rabbits and hollowed out by crickets and perhaps with +a leaf or two cemented to it (as Curzon[15] an old manuscript from a +monastery’s mouldy cellar), but still with a rich bloom on it, and at +least as ripe and well kept, if not better than those in barrels, more +crisp and lively than they. If these resources fail to yield anything, +I have learned to look between the bases of the suckers which spring +thickly from some horizontal limb, for now and then one lodges there, +or in the very midst of an alder-clump, where they are covered by +leaves, safe from cows which may have smelled them out. If I am +sharp-set, for I do not refuse the Blue-Pearmain, I fill my pockets on +each side; and as I retrace my steps in the frosty eve, being perhaps +four or five miles from home, I eat one first from this side, and then +from that, to keep my balance. + + [15] Robert Curzon was a traveller who searched for old manuscripts in + the monasteries of the Levant. See his book, Ancient Monasteries of + the East. + + +I learn from Topsell’s Gesner, whose authority appears to be Albertus, +that the following is the way in which the hedgehog collects and +carries home his apples. He says: “His meat is apples, worms, or +grapes: when he findeth apples or grapes on the earth, he rolleth +himself upon them, until he have filled all his prickles, and then +carrieth them home to his den, never bearing above one in his mouth; +and if it fortune that one of them fall off by the way, he likewise +shaketh off all the residue, and walloweth upon them afresh, until they +be all settled upon his back again. So, forth he goeth, making a noise +like a cart-wheel; and if he have any young ones in his nest, they pull +off his load wherewithal he is loaded, eating thereof what they please, +and laying up the residue for the time to come.” + + + + +THE “FROZEN-THAWED” APPLE + + +Toward the end of November, though some of the sound ones are yet more +mellow and perhaps more edible, they have generally, like the leaves, +lost their beauty, and are beginning to freeze. It is finger-cold, and +prudent farmers get in their barrelled apples, and bring you the apples +and cider which they have engaged; for it is time to put them into the +cellar. Perhaps a few on the ground show their red cheeks above the +early snow, and occasionally some even preserve their color and +soundness under the snow throughout the winter. But generally at the +beginning of the winter they freeze hard, and soon, though undecayed, +acquire the color of a baked apple. + +Before the end of December, generally, they experience their first +thawing. Those which a month ago were sour, crabbed, and quite +unpalatable to the civilized taste, such at least as were frozen while +sound, let a warmer sun come to thaw them, for they are extremely +sensitive to its rays, are found to be filled with a rich, sweet cider, +better than any bottled cider that I know of, and with which I am +better acquainted than with wine. All apples are good in this state, +and your jaws are the cider-press. Others, which have more substance, +are a sweet and luscious food,—in my opinion of more worth than the +pine-apples which are imported from the West Indies. Those which lately +even I tasted only to repent of it,—for I am semi-civilized,—which the +farmer willingly left on the tree, I am now glad to find have the +property of hanging on like the leaves of the young oaks. It is a way +to keep cider sweet without boiling. Let the frost come to freeze them +first, solid as stones, and then the rain or a warm winter day to thaw +them, and they will seem to have borrowed a flavor from heaven through +the medium of the air in which they hang. Or perchance you find, when +you get home, that those which rattled in your pocket have thawed, and +the ice is turned to cider. But after the third or fourth freezing and +thawing they will not be found so good. + +What are the imported half-ripe fruits of the torrid South to this +fruit matured by the cold of the frigid North? These are those crabbed +apples with which I cheated my companion, and kept a smooth face that I +might tempt him to eat. Now we both greedily fill our pockets with +them,—bending to drink the cup and save our lappets from the +overflowing juice,—and grow more social with their wine. Was there one +that hung so high and sheltered by the tangled branches that our sticks +could not dislodge it? + +It is a fruit never carried to market, that I am aware of,—quite +distinct from the apple of the markets, as from dried apple and +cider,—and it is not every winter that produces it in perfection. + +The era of the Wild Apple will soon be past. It is a fruit which will +probably become extinct in New England. You may still wander through +old orchards of native fruit of great extent, which for the most part +went to the cider-mill, now all gone to decay. I have heard of an +orchard in a distant town, on the side of a hill, where the apples +rolled down and lay four feet deep against a wall on the lower side, +and this the owner cut down for fear they should be made into cider. +Since the temperance reform and the general introduction of grafted +fruit, no native apple-trees, such as I see everywhere in deserted +pastures, and where the woods have grown up around them, are set out. I +fear that he who walks over these fields a century hence will not know +the pleasure of knocking off wild apples. Ah, poor man, there are many +pleasures which he will not know! Notwithstanding the prevalence of the +Baldwin and the Porter, I doubt if so extensive orchards are set out +to-day in my town as there were a century ago, wrhen those vast +straggling cider-orchards were planted, when men both ate and drank +apples, when the pomace-heap was the only nursery, and trees cost +nothing but the trouble of setting them out. Men could afford then to +stick a tree by every wall-side and let it take its chance. I see +nobody planting trees to-day in such out-of-the-way places, along the +lonely roads and lanes, and at the bottom of dells in the wood. Now +that they have grafted trees, and pay a priee for them, they collect +them into a plat by their houses, and fence them in,—and the end of it +all will be that we shall be compelled to look for our apples in a +barrel. + +This is “The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. + +“Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land! +Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?... + +“That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that +which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten; and that which +the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten. + +“Awake, ye drunkards, and weep! and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, +because of the new wine! for it is cut off from your mouth. + +“For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, +whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek-teeth of a +great lion. + +“He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig-tree; he hath made it +clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.... + +“Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen! howl, O ye vine-dressers!... + +“The vine is dried up, and the fig-tree languisheth; the +pomegranate-tree, the palm tree also, and the apple-tree, even all the +trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the +sons of men.”[16] + + [16] JOEL, chapter i., verses 1–12. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILD APPLES *** + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following +the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use +of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for +copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very +easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation +of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project +Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may +do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected +by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark +license, especially commercial redistribution. + +START: FULL LICENSE + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full +Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at +www.gutenberg.org/license. + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or +destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your +possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a +Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound +by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the +person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph +1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this +agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the +Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection +of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual +works in the collection are in the public domain in the United +States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the +United States and you are located in the United States, we do not +claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, +displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as +all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope +that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting +free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm +works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the +Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily +comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the +same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when +you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are +in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, +check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this +agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, +distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any +other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no +representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any +country other than the United States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other +immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear +prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work +on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, +performed, viewed, copied or distributed: + + This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and + most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no + restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it + under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this + eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the + United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where + you are located before using this eBook. + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is +derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not +contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the +copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in +the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are +redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply +either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or +obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any +additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms +will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works +posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the +beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including +any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access +to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format +other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official +version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm website +(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense +to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means +of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain +Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the +full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +provided that: + +* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed + to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has + agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid + within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are + legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty + payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in + Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation." + +* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all + copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue + all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm + works. + +* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of + any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of + receipt of the work. + +* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than +are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing +from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of +the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Foundation as set +forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project +Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may +contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate +or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or +other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or +cannot be read by your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium +with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you +with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in +lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person +or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second +opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If +the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing +without further opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO +OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of +damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement +violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the +agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or +limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or +unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the +remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in +accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the +production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, +including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of +the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this +or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or +additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any +Defect you cause. + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of +computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It +exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations +from people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future +generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see +Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at +www.gutenberg.org + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by +U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, +Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up +to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website +and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without +widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND +DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular +state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To +donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project +Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be +freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and +distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of +volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in +the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. + +Most people start at our website which has the main PG search +facility: www.gutenberg.org + +This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + |