File:Birds and nature (1901) (14755342222).jpg

Identifier: birdsnature91901chic (find matches)
Title: Birds and nature
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Birds Natural history
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Mumford, Publisher
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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umerates twenty varieties that wereknown in his day. It is generally sup-posed that the Goths and Vandals intro-duced the manufacture and use of ciderinto the Mediterranean provinces andreferences to it are made by Tertullianand the African Fathers. The use of ci-der can be traced from Africa into theBiscayan provinces of Spain, and thenceto Normandy. It is supposed to havecome into England at the time of the con-quest, but the word cyder is said to beAnglo-Saxon, and there is reason to be-lieve that it was known in the island asearly as the time of Heng-hist. As themistletoe grew chiefly on the apple andthe oak, the former was regarded withgreat respect by the ancient Druids ofBritain, and even to this day in someparts of England, the antique custom ofsaluting the apple trees in the orchards,in the hope of obtaining a good crop thenext year, still lingers among the farmersof Devonshire and Herefordshire. Dur-ing the middle ages, the fruit was madethe pretext for massacring the op- 38
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Hi et Si I CO pressed tribes of Israel, as it was sup-posed that the Hebrews used apples toentice children into their homes to fur-nish their cannibal banquets. The different varieties of apples haveall descended from a species of crab foundwild in most parts of Europe. Althoughthere are two or three species of wildcrab belonging to this country, yet noneof our cultivated varieties have been raisedfrom them, but rather from seeds of thespecies brought here by the colonistsfrom Europe—over two hundred varie-ties of apples are known at the presenttime. As a rule, the Apple is a hardy,slow-growing tree, with an irregularhead, rigid branches, roughish bark, anda close-grained wood. It thrives best inlimestone soils and deep loams. It willnot flourish in wet soils or on those ofa peaty or sandy character. As a rule,the trees live to be fifty or eighty years of age, but there are specimens now bearingfruit in this country that are known to beover two hundred years old. The woodis often st

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