116 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[Aupjust, 



THE APPLE. 



Its 



Origin, History, Varieties, Habits, Dis- 

 eases and their Remedies. 



The Apple is the fruit of Fyrus mahis, of 

 tlie natural order Kosace.e. Although the 

 apple is mentioned in the Bible, and by Pheo- 

 plirastus, Herodotus and other ancient writers, 

 it is probable that other fruits were designateil 

 by that name. Even now the word apiil 



ally tinged with red and are sweet-scented ; 

 the fruit is more or less' depressed at the inser- 

 tion of the peduncle; woody threads (10) pass 

 through the fruit, being regularly disposed 

 around the 2-.") carpels, which contain two 

 seeds each. The apyile tree is very tenacious 

 of life, many specimens hearing fruit in this 

 country at an age of nearly two hundred years, 

 and the best artificial varieties last from fifty 

 lo ciglity years. 



Gravenstein Apple. 



The Graveustein ie large ; flattirt round ; the Bkin very Bmooth a^d fair of a ■»'lj;"»\yf 7 B^°"" J "\°fS u.yovou 

 with a brUliant red, Renerally in stripes ; stem short, rather stout, l.i a deep, rather broad, ■'"^ >'°"'^^^^'^}:^^ "" "™^ 

 cavity ; calyx large opou, in a wide, deep, uneven basin ; flesh whitish, very juicy, crisp, of a high siuightly, vnjous 

 flavor ; rather acid early in the season, but when fully ripe and meUow it becomes mild and pled8.mt. 

 lout for the table m i f or cooking. In use during September and October. 



It is both oxcel- 



used to designate a fleshy fruit, as the love- 

 apple (tomato), pine-apple, rose-apple (myrla- 

 Cfrt'). The derivation of the word is curious. 

 Anglo-Saxon (qil (German npfel)^ one of the 

 few names of our common fruits not derived 

 from the Latin or French, is, according to Dr. 

 Prior, of common origin with the Zend and 

 Sanscrit ah or f/p, water, and phala, fruit. 

 The Latin pnmum, from the root po, to drink, 

 would ako signify "a watery fruit." What- 

 ever be the parent country of the apple, it was 

 doubtless of E.astern origin. Pliny mentions 

 the crab and wild apples as small and sour, so 

 sour "as to take the edge from oil' a kuife" ; 

 hut some, he says, are remarkable for their 

 "line flavor and "the pungency of their smell." 

 Many varieties were cultivated alioiit Home, 

 and they usually bore the names of those who 

 originated them ov grafted them. More tluin 

 twenty sorts are mentioned by Pliny, but none 

 of these, if in existence now, can be ideutitied 

 from his brief and imperfect description.' 

 Probably the Romans introduced the aiiple 

 into Euglanil, as well as the pear, but the 

 early cliioiiicles are silent as lo its subsequeut 

 history in tliat country, until after the estab- 

 lishment of Christianity, when the monks and 

 heads of religious houses planted orchards, and 

 thenceforth the fruit became common. The 

 early settlers of America brought apple-trees, 

 and an island in Boston harbor, where they 

 weri: jilanted, still bears their name. The In- 

 dians h(;lpii(l to spread the fruit through the 

 country, and "Indian orchards" are common 

 throughout New England. 



"VVliether in the wild state or cultivated, the 

 apple is by no means a handsome tree. The 

 stem is slow-growing, low-branching, with 

 rigiil, irregular brandies, in many varieties 

 pendent to the ground ; the bark, after the 

 tree has passed its early 3'outli, becomes rough 

 and scaly ; the diameter of the head is usually 

 greater than its height, which seldom exceeds 

 thirty feet ; the leaves are broad, tough and 

 rigid, those of sweet-fruited trees l)eing usual- 

 ly ol' a darker green ; the blossoms are gener- 



Western Russia. 

 P. carfmaria, or 



"Various species of the genus Pt/rus grow 

 spontaneously in Europe ; the P. malus is 

 found as far north as (30° in 

 In the United States the 

 American 

 crab apple, 

 is abundant 

 in the Mid- 

 dle States 

 and south- 

 ward ; it is 

 about twen- 

 ty feet high, 

 a n d t h e 

 hi ossom s, 

 which a p - 

 jtearin May 

 and are 

 large, rosi - 

 colored am 

 sweet scent- 

 ed, are fol- 

 lowed by a 

 greenish- 

 yellow, fra- 

 grant fruit, 

 about an 

 inch in di- 

 ameter. The 

 apple does 

 not grow 

 very well 

 in warm cli- 

 mates, and 

 although 

 cultivated 

 in China 

 and India, it 

 is only in 



the cooler and mountainous parts tliat it lives 

 long, and the fruit is less abundant and in- 

 ferior ill (piality. In the Hawaiian isltinds the 

 apjile trees planti-d some years ago 'seem to 

 have entirely cliaiigfd tlieir habit of growth, 

 and s(!nd up long, vertical, alnifist branchless 

 .shoots. Wherever the apple occurs in its truly 



wild state, it is usually armed with thorns 

 while young. 



New aiitl choice varieties of apples are ob- 

 tained by planting seed, as about one in 10,- 

 (100 of tlie resulting trees will prove better 

 than the original, and a desirable kind onco 

 obtained may be continued by grafting or 

 budding. In cidture deep limestone lands axe 

 the best, as indicated by the analysis of apple 

 wood and bark by Prof. Emmons, who found 

 in one hundred parts of the ashes of sap wood 

 sixteen parts potash, eighteen lime, seventeen 

 phosphate of lime ; in one hundred parts of . 

 the ashes of hark, four parts potash, lifty-one 

 lime. The young trees should be planted in 

 holes of considerable size and depth, setting 

 the tree at the same depth it was in the nurs- 

 ery, taking care to replace none of the barren 

 subsoil, and covering the surface of the ground 

 with a mulching to retain water or liquid 

 manure, which may then be applied without 

 danger of caking the earth about the rootlets. 

 The distance between trees should be from 

 twenty-five to forty feet, according to variety, 

 some spreading much more than others. Usu- 

 ally the trees are planted too closely ; and the 

 system in New England of lining the stone 

 walls with these trees lias much to commend 

 it, as the walls retain moisture and alscj tillow 

 the leaves and snow to drift and accumulate 

 at their sides, thus supplying needed nourish- 

 ment to the trees ; and, moreover, as the rocks 

 wear awtiy they replace the potash in the soil, 

 or, if it be a "limestone rock, the limestone 

 which the tree so much needs. Apple trees 

 will not grow well in wet soil, nor where the 

 sod surrounds them; the gi'ound should he 

 stirred up about the trees and well manured 

 with plaster or animal manures, as indicated 

 by the soil, for several years after planting. 

 Alkaline washes on the trunk will preserve 

 the even green bitrk until the tree is ten or fif- 

 teen years old. The rich soils of the Western 

 States yield apples of unequaled size, but the 

 flavor is inferior to those produced on eastern 

 limestone soils, or where the proportion of 

 vegetable matter in the soil is less, and that of 

 red oxide of iron greater. Dwarf apple trees 

 are sometimes cultivated for hedges or orna- 

 ment, and the Chinese raise the tree in pots. 

 Many varieties grafted on the wild crab do 



I 



Hubbardston Nonesuch. 



This apple is a fine large winter fruit, which originated in Hubbardston Massachusetts, and is of excol- 



Icnt .plu i y. The tree is vigorous an.i bears very abundantly, ami .8 worthy of oxtensive ouUure F.mt 



large; roundish, oblong ; skin smooth, with irregular broken strips of bright aud pale red, which nearly 



cover o yellow ground ; flesh yellow, tender. Juicy and highly flavored. 



well and arc dwarfed ; but in Eurojie the fa- 

 vorite slock for dwarfing is the French ))ara- 

 dise apple, a naturally small tree, or the Eng- 

 lish dnuzuhi. In Eiigland and France the 

 trees are trained on walls, as espaliers am 

 balloon-shaijed, to insure rijieuing ; but in the 

 Ihiiteil States no such precaution is necessary. 



