158 



NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



them until they bear fruit, the one who finally discovers an 

 apple better in some respect than all the rest, has become 

 a benefactor of mankind ; for from the billions on billions 

 of apple seeds that have been ripening for thousands of 

 years we have only 299 kinds, some poor, some fair, some 

 good — a few very good — only two best. We cannot see 



deep enough into the 

 heart of nature to 

 know just what benign 

 influences joined hands 

 to produce these 

 ''bests." But two 

 apple blossoms on 

 two different trees 

 must have set out to 

 make the best seeds 

 in all the world ; the 

 rains and the dews 

 and the winds were 

 just right that year, 

 the soil was good, 

 a bee carried pollen 

 from one blossom to the other, and a bird guarded the 

 fruit from devouring insects, and finally some child, — 

 who knows ? — ate the apple and planted the seed in good 

 soil. 



Taking the hint from nature's ways, men have at last 

 begun to make careful experiments in ''plant breeding." 

 Read or tell to the children the stories of John Chapman, 

 better known as "Johnny Appleseed," who supplied the 

 early settlers in Indiana and Ohio with apple seeds and 



Fig. 60. Bismarck Apple 



a, the wild Asiatic crab apple, Pyriis baccata ; 



b, P. tnalits, the wild apple of Europe. 



(All h natural size) 



