Some wishful romantics once believed that an apple could tell you something about your future mate. First think up a half dozen or so names of boys or girls. Let each be a name of someone that you might marry. Then carefully twist an apple stem, saying each name in order until the stem comes off in your hand. The name spoken on the last twist belongs to the one you'll marry. Or so it is said.

In Kentucky it was believed that if you pressed the seeds of an apple to your forehead, the number of them that stuck would be equal to the number of days until you saw your sweetheart again. In another test of true romance, girls would select and name five seeds after boys they knew. They then pressed the seeds to their face. The first seed to fall would reveal the name of their future husband. It was also believed that you could find out which sweetheart loved you best by collecting seeds from a fresh apple, naming each one for a different suitor then flipping them in the air. The apple seed that flew so high as to touch the ceiling carried the name of the one who loved you best.

Some others thought that by cutting an apple in half, choosing a piece and counting the number of seeds you find there, you would discover how many children that you would have. As families tend to be smaller than in olden days, we suggest cutting the apple into thirds or quarters and counting the seeds in one of these smaller pieces for a more accurate forecast of future offspring.

Long ago in Sicily a girl who tossed an apple into the street would wait to see who would pick it up. If a boy plucked it from the street, she would marry within the year. If an old woman came along and picked it up, she would indeed marry but not for a year. However if a priest picked it up fable had it she would die a virgin.

We hope you enjoy this bit of Valentine trivia. Understand, we take Valentine's Day very seriously here at FruitFromWashington.com and believe that there's nothing trivial about sending Valentine's Day gifts and cards to the ones you love. It's a tradition firmly established in childhood; one which we enjoy and that continues today. The images of these sweet, old-fashioned cards of classic, Victorian design will remind you of sweethearts, old and new.

VALENTINE

Too high, too high to pluck
My heart shall swing.
A fruit no bee shall suck,
No wasp shall sting.

If on some night of cold
It falls to ground
In apple-leaves of gold
I'll wrap it round.

And I shall seal it up
With spice and salt,
In a carven silver cup,
In a deep vault.

Before my eyes are blind
And my lips mute,
I must eat core and rind
Of that same fruit.

Before my heart is dust
At the end of all,
Eat it I must, I must
Were it bitter gall.

But I shall keep it sweet
By some strange art;
Wild honey I shall eat
When I eat my heart.

O honey cool and chaste
As clover's breath!
Sweet Heaven I shall taste
Before my death.
- By Elinor Wylie from "Nets to Catch the Wind"