26 



CHAPTER XVII. 



CATALOGUE OF FRUITS. 



Hardy or Orchard Fruits. 



THE hardy fruits include all those which arrive at maturity in the 

 open garden without the aid of glass or artificial heat. These are the 

 apple, pear, quince, medlar, the true service, cherry, plum, gooseberry, 

 currant, raspberry, strawberry, cranberry, bilberry, cornel, elder, bar- 

 berry, winter cherry, buffalo berry, chestnut, walnut, hickory, and 

 mulberry. 



The Apple. 



The Apple (Pyrus Malus, L.; Mains communis, Dec.), is a deciduous 

 tree, under the middle size, with spreading branches, which form in 

 general an irregular head. In its wild or crab state, it is indigenous 

 in most parts of Europe, and as a fruit tree, it is cultivated in all 

 civilized countries, more especially in those of temperate climate. It 

 flowers in May, and ripens its fruit at various periods from July to 

 November, and some sorts of apple may be kept throughout the year 

 or longer. The tree is naturally of considerable hardiness and dura- 

 bility, but the cultivated varieties are comparatively delicate and 

 short-lived. Trees of the more hardy varieties, however, have been 

 known to endure for two or three centuries ; but it is presumed that 

 individual trees of such varieties as the Hawthornden and the 

 Ribston pippin would scarcely live a century. The apple, like every 

 other plant, accommodates itself more or less to the climate and soil 

 in which it is placed, but still it attains a higher degree of perfection in 

 some climates and soils than in others. The climate of England and the 

 north of France, and the loamy soils on limestone rock that are found 

 in these countries, appear to bring the apple to the highest degree of 

 perfection. Italy and Spain are much too warm, and the north of Ger- 

 many and Sweden too cold and sunless. Several kinds of apples were 

 introduced into Britain by the Romans, who possessed, according to 

 Pliny, twenty-two varieties; bat, in all probability, these were lost in the 

 interval between the Roman dominion in Britain, and the power of the 

 Church, though many wildings might doubtless spring up, when the trees 

 established by the Romans began to be neglected. Some of the 

 varieties, it may be reasonably supposed, were introduced by the 

 Roman clergy, but the greater number of sorts which have not been 

 raised in Britain have doubtless been introduced from Normandy, 

 either when that country was subjected to England, or previously at the 

 Norman conquest. The apple is not indigenous in North America, but 

 nevertheless it flourishes in all the temperate parts of the United States, 

 and the flavour of some varieties grown in America, for example the 

 Newtown pippin, is thought by many to be superior to that of any kinds 

 grown in the north of France or England. The number of varieties 



