INTRODUCTION OF THE APPLE INTO AMERICA AND 

 NEW YORK STATE 



CHAKI.KS S. WILSON 

 New York State Commissioner of Agriculture, Albany, N. Y. 



The cultivated apple, as we know it to- 

 day, is not an indigenous fruit, but one 

 introduced into this country by early set- 

 tlers. The only native apple is what is 

 M commonly called the crab, but which scien- 



tifically belongs to four diiferent species. 

 They are Pyrus coronaria, P. august if olid, 

 P. rivularis, and P. loensis, all of which 

 were found growing wild in the forest at 

 the time of the discovery of the country. 

 Pyrus coronaria, the garland crab of the 

 Mississippi Valley and northeastern 



states, is a small, slow-growing, and thorny tree producing flat- 

 tened, yellow-green fruit. It is frequently confused with Pyrus 

 anyusiifolia, a wild crab of the south, but should be easily dis- 

 tinguished by its narrow, half-evergreen, arid shining leaves that 

 offer a striking contrast to the short ovate and often three-lobed 

 petioles of P. coronaria. Both are hard woods and uniformly 

 smooth. The Oregon crab, P. rivularis, is the largest growing 

 species of the native apple, its trees attaining to a height of from 

 25 to 40 feet. It is found from Alaska to northern California, 

 and was at one time used, for food by the Indians and early white 

 settlers. 



The most promising of the native apples is the prairie states 

 crab, Pyrus loensis, which is growth, leaves, and flowers bears a 

 striking resemblance to Pyrus Malus. The leaves are rather large, 

 firm in texture, and white-pubescent underneath, growing on thick, 

 pubescent petioles. Its fruits are spherical and spherical-oblong, 

 a dull, rather heavy green in color, with light-colored dots on 



NOTE. In gathering the material for this article a questionnaire was sent out 

 to about three hundred of the leading fruit-growers and nurserymen of the state, 

 asking them for information regarding the introduction and history of the apple 

 in their respective sections. Through the courteous response of these growers, a 

 fairly complete history of the apple has been obtained. 



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