THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES 



is still doubt about the real home of the latter. The 

 peach and apricot have been grown in this country 

 since the early times of settlers; the oriental plum, 

 under the name of the Japanese Plum, for about half 

 a century, but the pears, apples, and cherries of the 

 Orient have scarcely received any attention here. 



Since the wild habitat of certain of our fruit trees is 

 not clearly known it will occasion no surprise to learn 

 that botanists differ in opinion as to the species to 

 which some of our domesticated fruits belong. Natur- 

 ally they have become so vastly changed under long 

 cultivation that they bear but a remote resemblance 

 to their ancestral forms. Another fact that adds enor- 

 mously to the difficulty is that the parts of Europe, 

 western Asia, and the Orient where they are supposed 

 to have had their home have changed completely 

 under long, if intermittent, practice of agricultural 

 husbandry. The ravages of a thousand wars, the 

 migration to and fro of peoples down the ages have 

 likewise profoundly influenced the problem. In the 

 case of the Common Apple and the Domestica Plums 

 it is doubtful if we shall ever be absolutely sure of the 

 original habitat and identity of the wild types. 

 Crabapples, or reversions toward the wild type or 

 types, are found everywhere in the world where 

 Apples have been long cultivated, and casual ob- 

 servers have concluded that they are truly wild 

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