218 GARDENING. 



ever, that either plan may be pursued according to 

 the taste or convenience of the cultivator, we shall 

 take up the list of fruit-giving plants under the com- 

 mon and technical division of kernel and stone fruits, 

 berries and nuts; and, under separate heads, indi- 

 cate the soil, exposure, &c., &c., most proper for 

 each. 



The APPLE-TREE (Malus)* Of the many fruit- 

 trees in cultivation, this may be deemed the most 

 important ; not only from the great abundance, di- 

 versified character, and numerous uses of its pro- 

 ducts, but from the small degree of care and labour 

 required in its culture, and the uncommon facility 

 with which it adapts itself to a great diversity of 

 soils, climates, and situations. One of its varie- 

 ties (the crab) is a native of our own forests ; but 

 the cultivated sorts among us have all been deri- 

 ved from Europe, as those of Europe were originally 

 derived from Asia Minor. 



No general catalogue of the varieties of the ap- 

 ple-tree has ever, so far as our reading extends, 

 been given to the public, nor is it probable, from 

 their great and increasing multiplication, that any 

 successful attempt could now be made at their 

 enumeration and description. In the time of Pliny 

 twenty different sorts were known at Rome, whence 

 they gradually spread themselves over the other 

 parts of Europe. It was not till 1572, according to 

 Stow, that they appeared in England. In 1629, 

 Parkinson enumeratedy?/ty varieties growing there ; 

 in 1650, Hartlib counted two hundred; and in 1822, 

 London offered a list of two hundred and forty ap- 

 proved sorts then selling at the London nurseries. ft 



* Linnaeus places it in the family of pears, and thence denom- 

 inates it Pyrus malus ; but Millar and others regard it as a dis- 

 tinct genus. 



t Encyclopaedia of Gardening. 



% The varieties in the London Horticultural Garden alone 

 exceed fourteen hundred, and this collection comprises but a 

 part. J. B. 



