OF tfRlHT TRfcfcS. 23 



to his taste, \vhich he considers much more expedi- 

 tious and equally as certain a process as that of graft- 

 ing. 



AN account of a singular apple tree, producing 1 fruit of opposite 

 qualities ; a part of the same apple being- frequently sour, and 

 the other sweet : in a letter from the Reverend Peter Whit- 

 ney. published in the memoirs of the American academy of 

 arts and sciences, vol. 1. 



"THERE is now growing*, in an orchard lately be- 

 longing to my honoured father, the reverend Aaron 

 Whitney, of Petersham, deceased, an apple tree very 

 singular with respect to its fruit. The apples are fair, 

 and when fully ripe, of a yellow colour, but evidently 

 of different tastes sour and sweet. The part which 

 is"sour is not very tart, nor the other very sweet. 

 Two apples, growing side by side on the same limb, 

 will be often of these different tastes ; the one all sour, 

 and the otherall sweet. And, which is more remark- 

 able, the same apple will frequently be sour one side, 

 end, or part, and the other sweet, and that not in any 

 order or uniformity ; nor is there any difference in 

 the appearance of one part from the other. And as 

 to the quantity, some have more of the acid and less 

 of the sweet, and so vice versa. Neither are the ap- 

 ples, so different in their tastes, peculiar to any par- 

 ticular branches, but are found promiscuously, on ev- 

 ery branch of the tree. The tree stands almost in the 

 midst of a large orchard, in a rich and strong soil, and 

 was transplanted there forty years ago. There is no 

 appearance of the trunk, or any of the branches, hav- 

 ing been engrafted or inoculated. It was a number 

 of years after it had borne fruit, before these different 

 tastes were noticed ; but, since they were first discov- 

 ered, which is about twenty years, there has been, 

 constantly, the same variety in the apples. For the 

 truth of what I have asserted, I can appeal to many 



