Miscellaneous. 343 



The apple was known and cultivated by the ancient Romans. The 

 Ephrastus, we are told, knew oi two kinds : Gate, seven ; Pliny, the elder, 

 twenty-three, and says that some of the sorts were so sour as to turn the 

 ^<i\g& of a knife. 



Loudon says: "The apple, Whitaker conjectures to have been brought 

 into Britain by the first colonies of natives, and by Haedni of Somerset- 

 shire, in particular." Glastonbury was called Avillania, or the apple 

 orchard, before the arrival of the Romans. 



Before the third century the apples .had spread over the whole island. 

 The Romans, according to Tacitus, on their arrival began to plant apples. 



The Druids, Loudon tells us, paid particular reverence to the apple. 

 Northern mythology informs us that the giants used to eat apples to 

 keep them from growing old. 



The introduction of the apple into the British North-American 

 colonies, dates back to the earliest period of their settlement. Seeds of 

 apples were brought from England by the order of the Governor and 

 Company of Massachusetts Bay, in 1629, and in 1632, (iovernor's Island 

 in Boston Harbor, was granted to Governor Wintrop, on condition that 

 he should plant a vineyard or an orchard. 



The first apple orchard planted in Rhode Island was at Sturdy Hill, 

 near Pawtucket, in 1636. Connecticut had apples prior to 1645. I" 

 1741, apples were exported from New England to the West Indies in 

 considerable quantities. 



The apples of early New England were grown mostly from seed, 

 and were what is known as natural fruit, the largest proportion of which 

 being of little value except for the feeding, of stock and making of cider, 

 with occasionally a seedling of superior quality. From among these Mas- 

 sachusetts has given us the Baldwin, Roxbury Russet, Hubbardston, None- 

 such, Sutton Beauty, Porter and Williams' Favorite. Connecticut, the 

 Golden Sweet and Seek-no-further. Rhode Island, the Greening, that 

 bears its name with Peck's Pleasant and Tolman's Sweet. From New 

 York comes the Newton Pippin, Northern Spy, Spitzenburg and Jona- 

 than. 



The Yellow Bellflower and Maiden's Blush we have from New 

 Jersey. Pennsylvania gives us the Fallawater, Smith's Cider and York 

 Imperial. Ohio, the Rome Beauty. Kentucky presents us with the Ben 

 Davis, and from Minnesota comes the Wealthy, the introduction of which 

 has extended the profitable cultivation of apples 100 miles further to the 

 north than they could be grown before this variety was known. From 

 the origin of the varieties given, it will be seen that as a rule, a variety 

 of apples does best near the locality where it originated. Taking Great 

 Britain, Central Europe and America, the Gravenstein is the most popu- 



