PART V 



WILD RELATIVES OF OUR ORCHARD TREES 



The Apples — The Plums — The Cherries — The Haw- 

 thorns — The Service-berries — The Hackberries 

 — The Mulberries — The Figs — The Papaws — The 

 Pond Apples — The Persimmons 



THE APPLES 



The chance apple tree beside the road, with fruit too 

 gnarly to eat, is common on roadsides throughout New 

 England. Occasionally one of these trees bears edible 

 fruit, but this is not the rule. Perhaps the seed thus 

 planted was from the core of a very delicious apple, 

 nibbled close, and thrown away with regret. But trees 

 thus planted are seedlings and seedling apple trees "re- 

 vert" to the ancient parent of the race, the wild apple of 

 eastern Asia. Horticulture began long ago to improve 

 these wild trees, and through the centuries improvement 

 and variation have stocked the orchards of all temperate 

 countries with the multitude of varieties we know. A visit 

 in October to Nova Scotia or to the Yakima Valley in 

 ^Yashington, is an eye-opener. Thousands of acres of the 

 choicest varieties of this most satisfying of all fruits show 

 the debt we owe to patient scientists, whose work has so 

 enriched the food supply of the world. 



147 



