An Autumn Without Apples

ISLE MADAME, Nova Scotia - "That Looks like an apple tree," I said to Marjorie. "But how come it doesn't have any apples?"

Feral apple trees abound in Isle Madame - dotted through the woods, standing gnarled in deserted fields, adorning the edges of roads. They include several different varieties - probably heritage strains, since they apparently descend from orchards planted by French settlers in the 18th century. In October, they should be groaning with apples. But this one, growing beside a long-abandoned road, bore not a single fruit.