CHAPTER XI. 

 POME FRUITS. 



THE APPLE. 



Origin of the Cultivated Apple. 

 Classes of Apples: 



(a) The true apples have descended from the Pyrus mains 

 of Europe. Characteristics: Woolly twigs, on new growth, calyx 

 and flower stems; fruit, various but always holding its calyx, 

 i. e., the parts of the flower commonly found on the end of the 

 fruit; leaves, thicker and broader and the twigs thicker than 

 those of the crab apples (P. "baccata). The common apple of 

 commerce comes from this species. 



(b) The crab apples have descended from the Pyrus "baccata 

 of Europe and Asia. In Europe the term "crab" is often applied 

 to any small inferior kind of an apple which may be said to be 

 crabby. Characteristics: Growth, smoother and more wiry than 

 that of the true apple; leaves, narrower, thinner and with longer 

 stems; flower clusters and leaves seldom woolly; fruit, small on 

 long, wiry, slender stems; seed, enclosed in hard, close fitting 

 hulls; calyx falls off when the fruit is mature. There are few, if 

 any, of these pure crabs in cultivation. Possibly, however, the 

 Yellow and red Siberian crabs are of this parentage. 



(c) Hybrid crabs are sometimes known to botanists as Py- 

 rus prunifolia. They are undoubtedly the result of crosses be- 

 tween the true crabs and the larger apples. In this group are in- 

 cluded most of the so-called crabs of commerce, such as the 

 Transcendent, Hyslop, Sweet Russett, Excelsior and others. In 

 them are to be found the quality of the P. mains and the P. &ac- 

 cata, mixed in various proportions. 



(d) Pyrus coronaria, the largest of Western crabs, has a 

 form which has become known as Pyrus ioensis. This is a native 

 of the Mississippi Valley and eastward. Characteristics: Tree, 

 vigorous, especially when young; young growth, woolly; leaves, 

 often deeply indented; fruit, green or later yellowish, aromatic, 



