THE APPLE. 



The apple is undoubtedly the most valuable, as well as the most 

 widely known, of the whole family of fruits. Downing terras it 

 the "world-renowned fruit of the temperate climates';" and it 

 seems to be a native of at least three quarters of the globe. It was 

 well known to the ancients, several varieties of it having been 

 described by writers of antiquity. 



Yet widely known as it is, it has nowhere become appreciated 

 as it should be. A large portion of the people of this country seem 

 not to have yet learned that an apple can be used in any other way 

 than eaten raw, or that it can be introduced into the general cook- 

 ing of the family. Thousands will purchase and eat an apple 

 merely to gratify a taste for its aromatic flavor, without ever once 

 thinking of it as an article of food ; and among that rapidly increas- 

 ing class which is begiDuiug to discover that the apple may be made 

 a staple necessary of life, very few yet know in what a diversity of 

 ways it may be made to contribute to their wants. 



The apple will flourish in a greater variety of soils than most 

 other fruits. A dry, warm soil, with a good mixture of rich loam, 

 is the best, with a plentiful supply of hme and potash. It thrives 

 well, in many instances, on gravelly and even stony land, witli a 

 good mixture of rich surface mold, and subsoil not too compact. 



VAEIETIES. 



Elliott states that there are now probably two thousand varie- 

 ties of the apple, described in whole or in pai-t, by the various Hor- 

 ticultural writers. It may well be doubted, however;' whether 

 there are one tenth of that number so distinct tliat any but tlie 

 wn- experienced pomologists can recognize their characteristic 

 diilerences. It is no doubt true that, in many instances, apples of 



