280 Missouri State Horticultural Society. 



a difference in sheep. The Merinos will not do at all. They 

 browse too much ; the lower branches of trees are never safe with 

 them. Any of the long wools are preferable. Two good Cots- 

 wolds to the acre will keep an orchard in good shape."' — P. F. 



Few people have any real idea of the value of the apple crop 

 in Missouri in a good fruit season. A report of apples shipped 

 from Platte county last fall, just published, shows that 40,671 

 barrels were shipped from the various raih-oad stations in that 

 county. The average price paid was two dollars per barrel, or 

 $81,342. The orchards of Platte are nothing unusual. Those of 

 Buchanan county probably yielded fruit to the value of $200,000 

 or more; in Andrew county to the value of about $200,000 Was 

 shipped ; Holt county did not ship less than 1150,000, and Nodaway 

 county quite as much. Jackson county sent away $200,000 worth 

 and marketed about as much more in Kansas City. There is no 

 doubt that if full returns could be had they would show that the 

 apple crop of Missouri, last year, was worth several millions of 

 dollars. 



LOW GROUND ORCHARDS. 



Dr. Sanborn, horticultural editor of the Farm and Fruit 

 Groiver, Anna, 111., announces himself a convert to Mr. B. F. John- 

 son's theory, which Mr. J. has frequently advocated in the Prairie 

 Farmer, that low prairie ground is best for orchards. Mr. Sanborn 

 says : " We have seen quite enough at home to convince us of the 

 general truthfulness of the 'low ground' side of the question, for 

 the apple, pear, and quince at least. 



ORIGIN OF THE APPLE. 



Our cultivated apples undoubtedly sprang from two distinct 

 species of plants, one the Pyrus Malus, the panent of our ordinary 

 large apples, the other Pyrus prunifolia, the Siberian crab apple. 

 Our large crab apples, as Transcendants, etc., are supposed to be 

 crosses between the two. The original home of the apple tree, 

 Pyrux Malus, is a matter of uncertamty. 



Wild apples are common in southern Europe, and they are re- 

 garded by many as the original, uncultivated species. Two sorts of 

 wild apples are recognized by European botanists, one characterized 

 chiefly by smooth leaves, the other by woolly or pubescent leave^. 

 De Candolle, the latest authority on the origin of cultivated plants, 

 is not convinced that the wild apples of Europe represent the 

 original species ; he doubts if they are any more than cultivated 

 apples run wild. This author regards thatj^art of Persia extending 



