370 



FRUITS : 



Chap. X. 



species. The P. prcecox is supposed by some authors 83 to be the 

 parent of the dwarf paradise stock, which, owing to the fibrous roots 

 not penetrating deeply into the ground, is so largely used for 

 grafting ; but the paradise stocks, it is asserted, 84 cannot be propa- 

 gated true by seed. The common wild crab varies considerably in 

 England ; but many of the varieties are believed to be escaped 

 seedlings. 85 Every one knows the great difference in the manner 

 of growth, in the foliage, flowers, and especially in the fruit, between 

 the almost innumerable varieties of the apple. The pips or seeds 

 (as I know by comparison) likewise differ considerably in shape, 

 size, and colour. The fruit is adapted for eating or for cooking in 

 various ways, and keeps for only a few weeks or for nearly two 

 years. Some few kinds have the fruit covered with a powdery 

 secretion, called bloom, like that on plums ; and " it is extremely 

 remarkable that this occurs almost exclusively among varieties 

 cultivated in Bussia." 86 Another Eussian apple, the white Astracan, 

 possesses the singular property of becoming transparent, when ripe, 

 like some sorts of crabs. The api etoile has five prominent ridges., 

 hence its name ; the api noir is nearly black : the twin cluster pippin 

 often bears fruit joined in pairs. 87 The trees of the several sorts 

 differ greatly in their periods of leafing and flowering; in my 

 orchard the Court Pendu Plat produces leaves so late, that during 

 several springs I thought that it was dead. The Tiffin apple 

 scarcely bears a leaf when in full bloom ; the Cornish crab, on the 

 other hand, bears so many leaves at this period that the flowers 

 can hardly be seen. 88 In some kinds the fruit ripens in mid- 

 summer ; in others, late in the autumn. These several differences 

 in leafing, flowering, and fruiting, are not at all necessarily cor- 

 related ; for, as Andrew Knight has remarked, 89 no one can judge 

 from the early flowering of a new seedling, or from the early 

 shedding or change of colour of the leaves, whether it will mature 

 its fruit early in the season. 



The varieties differ greatly in constitution. It is notorious that 

 our summers are not hot enough for the Newtown Pippin, 90 which 



83 Mr. Lowe states in his ' Flora of 

 Madeira' (quoted in ' Gard. Chron.,' 

 1862, p. 215) that the P. mains, with 

 its nearly sessile fruit, ranges farther 

 south than the long-stalked P. acerba, 

 which is entirely absent in Madeira, 

 the Canaries, and apparently in Por- 

 tugal. This fact supports the belief 

 that these two forms deserve to be 

 called species. But the characters 

 separating them are of slight import- 

 ance, and of a kind known to vary in 

 other cultivated fruit-trees. 



83 See ' Journ. of Hort. Tour, by 

 Deputation of the Caledonian Hort. 



Soc.,' 1823, p. 459. 



85 H. C. Watson, 'Cybele Britan- 

 nica,' vol. i. p. 334. 



86 Loudon's 'Gardener's Mag.,' vol. 

 vi., 1830, p. 83. 



87 See ' Catalogue of Fruit in Gar- 

 den of Hort. Soc.,' 1842. and 

 Downing's ' American Fruit Trees.' 



88 Loudon's • Gardener's Magazine,' 

 vol. iv., 1828, p. 112. 



89 'The Culture of the Apple,' p. 

 43. Van Mons makes the same remark 

 on the pear, 'Arbres Fruitiers,' torn. 

 ii., 1836., p. 414. 



90 Lindley's ' Horticulture,' p. 116 



