lar variety.

Cut the apple through the center lengthwise (Fig. 13); note the curved
outline of the core (the pistil) extending half or more across the
fruit; if you do not see this outline, cut an apple until you do;
carefully open the five cells or compartments and within the parchment
walls find the two seeds attached by their points which are directed
toward the stem end; perhaps one of the seeds has failed, but probably
a cavity marks its place; perhaps both seeds have failed; perhaps the
cell has more than two seeds.

[Illustration: 13. The apples in section]

Cut an apple cross-wise: note the five radiating cells of the core,
the number and attachment of the seeds; note the ten points, imbedded
in the flesh, marking the outline of the core. Cut an apple cross-wise
above the core and beneath it; note where these points vanish and try
to harmonize them with the core-outline as seen in the lengthwise
section; probably you will discover why you may not see the
core-outline in all the lengthwise sections you make. Before you leave
the fruit, note whether single seeds in a cell are the same shape as
the two seeds in a cell.

The flesh outside the core-outline is interpreted to be stem structure
rather than pistil structure. Sometimes an apple bears a scale-like
leaf on its exterior, suggesting that the outer part of the fruit is
stem. The older morphologists interpreted the apple flower to comprise
a hollowed calyx (calyx-tube) inside which is the pistil and on the
rim of which are the petals and stamens. The structure now is regarded
as a hollowed receptacle or stem (hypanthium), with the pistil inside,
the petals and stamens on its rim. We noted in the flower that the
ovary part of the pistil is solidly imbedded in this receptacle, but
that the five styles are free. The pear and quince are of similar
structure, but the peach, plum and cherry are simple ripened pistils.

Here, in this chapter, we have discovered some of the epochs in the
life of the apple. Usually we let the imagination run only to the
mature fruit, thinking of the harvest, but in all the weeks before the
harvest the apple has been growing and taking form. As these weeks
have not been blank to the apple-tree, so shall they not be blank to
me.

V

THE BRUSH PILE

Today I visited the brush pile back of the orchard. Here the trimmings
of the winter are placed, waiting to be burned when dry. How many are
the archives that will be destro