A pretty surprise can often be prepared for children - even some children of considerable growth - by introducing a fruit in early life into a bottle, and then letting it finish its growth there. The little folks will wonder how it got there. By filling the bottle with alcohol, or possibly by excluding the air, the curiosity maybe preserved for a long time. It is said that an apple in perfect preservation, although ninety-six years old, is in possession of a gentleman in Ulster county. As it rounded up from the blossom of the parent stem in the early summer of 1787, a bottle was drawn over it and attached to the branch, and after the apple had ripened the stem was severed and the bottle sealed tightly. It looks as fresh as when first plucked.