omer and better?"

Edith looked her surprise, and the other children could not understand
why all the fruit that formed should not be left on the tree to ripen.

"It is very often left," replied their governess, "but, although the
crop is a large one, it will be of inferior quality; and those who
understand fruit-raising thin it out, so that the tree may not have more
fruit than it can well nourish. But now it is time for papa to come, and
after dinner we will have a regular apple-talk."

"How nice it was at Mrs. Grove's to-day!" said Clara, when they were
gathered for the talk. "I think that kitchens are pleasanter to sit in
than parlors and school-rooms."

"So do I," chimed in Edith; "but I was afraid about the crickets at
first. I thought we'd have to hold 'em in our hands, and I didn't
like that."

Why _would_ people always laugh when there was nothing to laugh at? The
little girl thought she had a very funny brother and sister, and Miss
Harson, too, was funny sometimes.

"Have you so soon forgotten about the real insect-crickets, dear?" asked
her governess, kindly. "Why, it will be months yet before we see one.
Besides, I thought I told you that in some places a little bench is
called a 'cricket'?--Do you know, Clara, why you thought Mrs. Grove's
kitchen so pleasant? It is larger and better furnished than kitchens
usually are, there were pleasant people in it, and you were tired and
hungry and ready to enjoy rest and refreshments; but I am quite sure
that, on the whole, you would like your own quarters best, because you
are better fitted for them, as Mrs. Grove is for hers. We had a very
pleasant visit, though, and some day we may repeat it--perhaps when the
apples are ripe."

"Good! good!" cried the children, clapping their hands; and Malcolm
added that he "would like to be let loose in that apple-orchard."

"Perhaps you would like it better than Farmer Grove would," was the
reply. "But we haven't got to the apples yet; we must first find out a
little about the tree. We learn in the beginning that it was one of the
very earliest trees planted in this country by the settlers, because it
is both hardy and useful. There is a wild species called the Virginia
crab-apple, which bears beautiful pink flowers as fragrant as roses, but
its small apples are intensely sour. The blossoms of the cultivated
apple tree are more beautiful than those of any other fruit; they are
delicious to both sight and scent."

"And