FRUITS VARIETIES AND CULTURE. 457 



agreeable flavor. The hardiest and most productive 

 variety, and is the common hard-shelled almond of the 

 shops; flowers open before the leaves appear. 



The Princess and Sultana are varieties extensively 

 cultivated in Europe and produce nuts with thin shells. 

 They are prolific and excellent varieties. Another Euro- 

 pean variety is Pistache, which yields a nut of a delicate 

 sweetness. 



THE APPLE.— (Pyrus Malus.) 



The Apple probably originated from the European 

 Crab, but centuries of cultivation and reproduction from 

 seeds of new and improved varieties have brought it to 

 its present state of perfection in quality, size and beauty. 



Where the apple can be grown and preserved in perfec- 

 tion, it is the most useful of fruits. Varieties can be 

 selected which will afford a succession through the entire 

 year. 



They can be thus preserved in our own mountain 

 region, from which excellent fruit is brought as late as 

 the month of May. The best varieties are excellent 

 dessert fruits. For the table, they are prepared in many 

 ways, as baking, stewing, in pies, tarts, puddings, dump- 

 lings, jellies, and preserves. They are also dried for 

 winter use. 



The best mode of propagating the apple is by budding 

 or grafting on seedling stocks. For the raising of stocks, 

 the seed should be sown in the fall, or early winter, in 

 good soil, in rows eighteen inches apart. Transplant them 

 in rows four feet apart, and one foot apart in the row. If 

 any of the plants become infested with woolly aphis, 

 wash them with tobacco water. The young grafted trees 

 should be planted in the orchard when one or two years 

 old, at distances of twenty-five to thirty feet apart. 



Analysis shows that one-half the ash of the bark of the 

 apple, and over one-sixth of that of the sap-wood, is lime. 



