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 musq