Henry David Thoreau : Wild Apples: The History of the Apple Tree (1862)

"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 Rosaceae, which includes the Apple, also the true Grasses, and the Labiatae, or Mints, were introduced only a short time previous to the appearance of man on the globe."

"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.""


"Thus the cows create their own shade and food; and the tree, its hour-glass being inverted, lives a second life, as it were."




Wild Apples: The History of the Apple Tree (1862)


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.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau