168. Lay in the hand four apple-seeds and have some one name them, then pick them up, saying,—
This one I love all others above,
And this one I greatly admire,
And this one I’ll take and never forsake.
And this one I’ll cast in the fire.
St. John, N. B.
169. A love divination by way of apple-seeds, much practiced when a number of young people were spending the evening together, or perhaps by grown-up boys and girls in district schools as they ate their noon-day lunch about the stove, was as follows:—
Two seeds were named, one for a girl and one for a young man, and placed on a hot stove or in front of an open fire. The augury, concerning the future relations of the young people was derived from the behavior of the two seeds. If as they heated they jumped away from one another, the two persons would become estranged or their friendship die; if the seeds moved nearer together, marriage was implied; if the one named for the girl moved towards the other, it signified that the young woman was fonder of the young man than he was of her, and so on.
Northern Ohio.
170. “A common project in my girlhood was to place an apple-seed on each of the four fingers of the right hand, that is, on the knuckles, first moistening them with spittle. A companion then ‘named’ them, and the fingers were worked so as to move slightly. The seed that stayed on the longest indicated the name of your future husband.”
Stratham, N. H.
171. Name apple-seeds and place on the lids of the closed eyes. Wink and the first to fall off shows the name of your future husband.
Winn, Me., New York, and Pennsylvania.
172. To name apple-seeds, put one on each temple, get some one to name them, and the one that sticks the longest will be the true one.