CHAPTER XXI 

 THE FRUITS 



The tree fruits may be divided into pome and stone fruits. 



1. Pome Fruits. — The apple, pear, and quince are called 

 pomes, because they contain a core in which are the seeds. 



The Apple. — The apple is one of the oldest cultivated 

 fruits in the temperate zone. It originated in Eastern Europe 

 and Western Asia. Some varieties of the crab-apple came 

 from European or Siberian ancestry, while others came from 

 our native American wild crab-apple, or from crosses of it 

 and the European crab-apple. 



When fine, large apples are desired thinning should be 

 practised. This is done by pulling off some of the young 

 apples when they are as large as small nuts. Thinning is 

 tedious work, but will pay well in fine fruit. 



Apple varieties are classed as summer, autumn, and winter 



sorts. There are many good varieties of each kind — more 



than we can attempt to name here. Yellow Transparent, 



Early Harvest, Red Astrachan, Duchess, and Benoni are 



good summer varieties. For autumn use the Maiden Blush, 



Wealthy, Rambo, Fall Pippin, Bellflower, and Grimes' Golden 



are excellent. Rome Beauty, Ben Davis, Smith's Cider, 



Tulpehocken, and Winesap are good keepers for winter use. 



All varieties are greatly influenced by conditions of soil and 



climate, and a variety which is popular in one section may 



not be at all satisfactory in some other place. 



155 



