OUR COMMON FRUIT TREES 



whereas "naturalized" is the correct term to employ. 

 In this connection it must be confessed that often it is 

 well-nigh impossible to distinguish between natur- 

 alized and spontaneous plants. Let us take the case 

 of the Common Apple. Loudon in his "Arboretum 

 et Fruticetum Britannicum," 1 1, 894, says, "the Apple 

 grows spontaneously in every part of Europe except 

 the torrid zone. It is found throughout western 

 Asia. ... In the north of Europe it is found as 

 far west as Finland in Lat. 62 ; in Sweden in Lat. 58 

 or 59 ; in central Russia to 55°or6o°. In Britain, the 

 Apple is found in a wild state in hedges, and on 

 the margins of woods, as far north as Morayshire. It 

 is found wild in Ireland, but it is rare there." 



The latest authority as represented by Bailey's 

 "Standard Cyclopedia American Horticulture," V. 2870 

 (19 1 6), gives southeastern Europe to western Asia 

 as the home of the principal, or supposed principal, 

 parent of the Apple and western and central Europe 

 for its other and lesser parent. The Apple, accord- 

 ing to the best authorities, was introduced into 

 France and Britain by the Romans, as was also the 

 Pear; and like that fruit probably reintroduced by 

 religious houses on their establishment, after the 

 introduction of Christianity. Others claim that the 

 Apple was to the Druids a sacred or semi-sacred tree, 

 that it was cultivated in Britain from the earliest 

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