158 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



SOME ABNORMALITIES IN APPLE VARIATION 



By W. J. YOUNG 



ASSISTANT HORTICULTURIST, WASHINGTON EXPERIMENT STATION 



IF one were to enumerate the chief characteristics of the apple, its 

 variability would doubtless come well toward the head of the list. 

 A species which has been so long under domestication, which has been 

 removed to so many localities where it is not native and subjected to 

 conditions so different from those of its original habitat and which has 

 such a complex ancestry as our modern apple, may well be expected to 

 display a great variety of forms, and among the number some of such 

 abnormal character and infrequent occurrence as to be reckoned as 

 curiosities. It is not my intention in this article to discuss the varia- 

 tion of the apple in general, but only to jot down some notes concern- 

 ing a few such freaks as have come to my attention during the past 

 season. 



First of all, I wish to consider some curiosities of apple coloration. 

 It is pretty generally understood that, other conditions remaining the 

 same, the color of an apple depends to a great extent upon the amount 

 of sunlight to which the fruit has been exposed. The apples grown on 

 the shady side of the tree are apt to be somewhat poorly colored, and 

 the shady side of an apple itself is nearly always less highly colored than 

 the side exposed to the direct rays of the sun. Every one is familiar 

 with the nicely contrasting light spots which are common on our dark 

 red apples where they have been shaded by some friendly leaf, and such 

 spots, if not too extensive, are usually regarded as adding to the attract- 

 iveness of the fruit. This effect of sunlight and shadow upon the color 

 of an apple is so well understood that it is often made use of in printing 

 various designs upon the surface of the fruit. It is not often, however, 

 that an effect of this kind is produced wholly without intention, yet that 

 such a thing may happen is shown in the illustration. This specimen 

 of nature's color photography represents a leaf with petiole, midrib and 

 marginal teeth. The apple is of the Mcintosh variety and is one of a 

 number which resulted from artificial cross pollination. In order to 

 prevent the loss of the apples in case they should drop from the tree 

 before picking time, they were enclosed early in the season in small 

 sacks of mosquito netting. This particular specimen happened to so 

 press against the interior of the sack that a leaf was held firmly against 

 its side, and the nearly perfect print of the leaf was the result. The 



