APPLE 



APPLE 



313 



and flowers, it bears a striking resemblance to forms of 

 Pyrtis Mains. The fruit is spherical or spherical-oblong, 

 short-stemmed, very hard, and remains green-colored. 

 The fruit of the eastern-states crab, Pyrus coroiiaria, 

 is distinctly flattened endwise, and is long-stemmed. 

 The leaves are deep-cut and often three-lobed. There 

 are no improved varieties of this eastern species, and 

 no authentic hybriils between it and tlie common 

 apples. The fruit is sometimes used by settlers, but it 

 has httle comestible value. Pyrus iucnsis has produced 

 a number of promising hybrids with the common 

 apple, and this mongrel race is known as Pyrus Soulanlii. 

 The Soulard crab is the best known of these. Its 

 value lies only in its extreme hardiness. The pomo- 

 logical value of the native crabs is prospective. For a 

 completer account of the native apples, see 'Bailey, 

 "Evolution of our Native Fruits." 



One of the most perfect apple regions of this coun- 

 try — considering productiveness, quality, long-keeping 

 attributes, longevity of tree — is that which begins with 

 Nova Scotia and extends to the west and southwest to 

 Lake Michigan. Other important regions are the 

 Piedmont country of Virginia and the highlands of 

 of adjacent states; the Plains regions; the Ozark and 



239. Spur and fruit 

 bud of apple. 



240. Only one fruit may set 

 in a cluster. 



Arkansas region; the interniountain region from Mon- 

 tana to New Mexico; the Northwest, including both 

 large and small areas in British Columbia, Washington 

 and Oregon; and the Pacific region, comprising the foot- 

 hills and parts of the coast in California. All parts of 

 the United States north of Florida and the fiulf bor- 

 ders, and excluding the warm-temperate parts of the 

 Southwest, are adapted to the apple in greater or lesser 

 degree. North America is the leading apple-growing 

 country of the world. A full crop for the I'nited States 

 and Canada, of all kinds and grades, is probably not 

 much less than 100,000,000 barrels, although it is 

 doubtful whether more than one-thirtl of this vast 

 quantity is marketed in a fresh state. The apple is a 

 cosmopolitan fruit, and, since it thrives almost any- 

 where, it is commonly neglected. 



The apple was early introduced into this country. In 

 the first davs it was prized chiefly for cider. It is an 

 ancient and common notion that any apple is good 

 enough for cider; and this is one reason for the neglect 

 in which the apple plantation was commonly allowed to 

 stand. 



Brief or summary statemenl. 



The best results in apple-growing are to be expected 

 in general when the land is tilled. The reasons for till- 

 ing the orchard are those that apply to other crops, — 

 to make plant-food available, to extend the area in 

 which the roots can grow, to conserve moisture. It is 



4- 



241. Showing the side bud 

 that is to continue the spur 

 the following year. 



especially important, in our hot and sunny country, 

 that the roots extend deep enough to escape the disas- 

 trous effects of drought. The ideal treatment of orchard 

 land is to fit 



the ground -^ 



deep before 

 the trees'* 

 are planted, 

 to plow 

 deep for a 

 year or two 

 or three in 



order to force the roots 

 down and thoroughly to 

 ameliorate the soil and to 

 practise shallow tillage to 

 conserve moisture Since 

 trees make most of their 

 growth early in the season, 

 the tillage should be begun 

 as soon as the land is fit in 

 spring; and it may be dis- 

 continued by midsummer or 

 August. This cessation of 

 the tillage allows of the growing of some cover-crop or 

 catch-crop late in the season, in order to provide humus 

 and to improve the physical texture of the soil. If the 

 land is well handled in the first few years, it will not be 

 necessary to turn a furrow in the orchard frequently 

 thereafter, but merely to loosen the surface in the spring 

 with a spading-harrow, spring-tooth harrow, or other 

 tool, to reestablish the surface mulch. The only rea- 

 sons for turning a furrow will occur when the land is so 

 hard that the surface tools cannot mellow the surface, 

 or when it is desirable to turn under a green-manure 

 crop. Even hard lands may be got in such condition, 

 by means of tillage and green-manures, that they may 

 be worked up with harrow tools when the orchard 

 comes into bearing. Plowing the orchard, therefore, 

 has two legitimate objects; to mellow and ameliorate 

 the land to a considerable depth, so that the roots 

 may forage deep; to turn under a cover-crop. The 

 former purj^ose should not be necessary after the first 

 few plowings. An incidental object of plowing is to 

 facilitate the making of the annual surface mulch; and 

 this mulch is to save the moisture. 



On good lands in which there is a suflRcient natural 

 supply of moisture, the .sod-mulch treatment may take 



242. The flower-cluster and the leaf-cluster. 



the place of tillage. This procedure keeps the land in 

 sod, and the griiss is mown and allowed to remain on 

 the ground or is spread under the trees. 



The apple thrives in a variety of soils. Lands that 

 yield good crops of wheat and corn may be expected 

 to be good apple lands, if other conditions are right. 

 Rolling, inclined, or somewhat elevated lands are 

 generally considered to be most desirable. Their value 

 lies in the better drainage of water and air. The trees 

 may be set in either fall or spring. Forty feet apart 

 each way is the standard distance for apple trees; but 

 some varieties, as the Wagener and the crabs, may be 

 set closer. In the South and on the plains, trees may 



