THE APPLE. 10 



cider. The mistletoe is more partial to the apple than to 

 any other tree, and grows as freely upon the crab-apple 

 as on the various kinds of apple in cultivation. While 

 an interesting plant in itself, its parasitic growth renders 

 it ultimately very injurious to the tree which supports it, 

 though as it often appears to thrive best on trees that are 

 already past their prime, it may be a question whether it 

 may not in time become a more valuable product of the 

 tree than the natural fruit, as many tons of it are found 

 well worth the sending every winter from the great 

 orchards of the western counties to the metropolis and 

 other large towns. 



It is a curious and noticeable fact that the wild apple, 

 like the wild plum, has its branches armed with thorns, 

 and tLat in both cases these uncomfortable and aggres- 

 sive features are lost under the softening influence of 

 cultivation. 



Probably we owe many of our cultivated species of 

 apples, as we owe many other valuable things, to the 

 Romans. Pliny speaks of the cultivation of twenty- 

 two different varieties, and no doubt the Norman conquest 

 was also the means of other varieties being introduced, for 

 our readers must not conclude too hastily that since all our 

 cultivated varieties have sprung from the wild crab-apple, 

 that they have of necessity been the result of English 

 skill alone. The crab-apple is no less a native of most of 

 the other countries of Europe than it is with us, and the 

 cultivation of the fruit has engaged the attention and 

 rewarded the skill of many beyond the limits of our island 

 home. 



Tusser, writing in 1573, mentions in his catalogue 

 "apples of all sorts;" while Parkinson, in 169, is more 



