THE APPLE. 19 



all apples in the South of Europe ; while, re turning north- 

 wards, we find several varieties peculiar to Kussia, the 

 most curious being the "White Astrachan, which is dis- 

 tinguished not only by becoming transparent when ripe, 

 but by being covered with a copious and delicate bloom, 

 exactly similar to that waxy secretion which clouds the 

 plum or grape with its beautiful azure mist, only that in 

 this case it is a white veil which is thrown over the pale 

 yellow skin of the fruit. Grown here, the flesh is only 

 semi-transparent, showing here and there gelatinous 

 blotches ; but a traveller in Russia, in 1845, describes 

 having seen them at Revel quite transparent throughout, 

 so that, when held to the light, the pips could be seen 

 from every part ; adding, that they were as large as a 

 fine peach and quite as juicy, the flavour too being very 

 good. This fruit, he was informed, was grown in a soil 

 consisting half of pure sand and the other half of manure. 

 But nowhere in its native Europe does the apple 

 flourish better than it does in the land of its adoption, 

 the United States of America. There are, indeed, some 

 diminutive kinds of Crabs indigenous to that country; 

 but these have remained still unameliorated by culture, 

 and it is from the seeds of European kinds, taken over at 

 different times by colonists, that the fine fruits now grow- 

 ing in American orchards have been raised. So perfectly, 

 however, has the fruit become naturalized, that new and 

 fine kinds often appear quite spontaneously, almost every 

 district having one or more variety which has originated 

 there, and is found to be peculiarly adapted to it; so 

 that, though the same sort will grow with mo-re or less 

 success in other parts, it is nowhere else quite so fine in 

 flavour or the tree so productive, unless the soil and 

 climate should happen to be exactly similar to those of 

 its native spot. Thus Pennsylvania has its " Belle-fleur" 

 Massachusetts its " Baldwin," Connecticut its " Seek-no- 

 Farther," &c., &c. The apple, however, which, say the 

 Americans, stands at the head of all apples, native or 

 foreign, and which certainly fetches a higher price at 

 Covent Garden than any other, is that which has its 

 special habitat in New York, the world-famous Newtown 



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