Old Games for Kids – THE APPLE MILL

The Apple Mill is made by boring a hole in a nut, iust large enough to pass a thin skewer through ; the kernel should then be extracted, and another hole bored in the side of the nut, as a in the annexed figure.

A skewer should next be cut or thinned, leaving it large enough at the top to form a head, as shown in the cut.
A piece of string is then to be tied to the skewer, and passed through the hole in the side of the nut at A, and an apple stuck on the end of the skewer.
The mill being now complete in all its works, it should be twirled round in the same manner as the humming top to wind up the string, holding the nut stationary between the forefinger and thumb of the left hand; when this is done, the string must be pulled out quickly, and the mill will immediately spin round. When an apple cannot be procured, a small potato will serve equally well.

Excerpt from the book:
EVERY BOY’S BOOK: A COMPLETE ENCYCLOPÆDIA OF SPORTS AND AMUSEMENTS.
EDITED BY EDMUND ROUTLEDGE.
With more than Six Hundred Illustrations
FROM ORIGINAL DESIGNS.
LONDON: GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS,
THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE.
NEW YORK: 416, BROOME STREET.
1869.