124 



DESCKIFTIVE BOTANY. 



Etymologtj. — The word pyrus comes from the Celtic word peren, signify- 

 ing pear. Mains, the specific name, is the old Latin name for apple. 



The common name, apple, is said to come from two Sanscrit words mean- 

 ing water-fruit. Others derive it from abala, or ab, a ball, and ala, little, a 

 little ball-shaped fruit. The Latin word pomum favors the signification of a 

 watery fruit, inasmuch as it comes from po, drink. 



History. — This fruit was known and extensively used by the Swiss lake- 

 dwellers. They preserved it by cutting it lengthwise and drying it in the sun. 



The home of the apple is sup- 

 posed to be Persia and the north- 

 ern regions of Asia Minor. It 

 is found without cultivation in 

 northern India and middle China, 

 and throughout middle Europe. 



It is held by some that all our 

 varieties are from the crab apple. 

 While apples are spoken of in 

 the Old Testament, it is not cer- 

 tain that the fruit referred to is 

 our apple. It was taken to Home 

 450 years before the Christian 

 era, but was confined to the gar- 

 dens and planted grounds of the 

 wealthy for many years. Pliny, 

 in his book on plants, written in 

 the first century, speaks of the 

 apple as a profitable crop on ac- 

 count of its scarcity in the vicinity 

 of Rome. 



It seems that engrafting was 

 practiced at that time ; for tlie 

 same writer speaks of apples 

 that will honor the fruit-grafter 

 forever. 

 When this method of improving fruit was first used is not known. The 

 Romans had 22 varieties, luit no doubt some of these were natural. 



At the time of Vergil, apples must have been common, and were no doubt 

 an important article of food for the peasants ; for the poet in the First Eclogue 

 makes Tityrus say to Meliboeus : — 



" Stay with me to-night, for I have ripe apples, soft chestnuts, and plenty of 

 cheese." 

 The apple was brought to northeast America by European colonists, and 

 was tlie most important fruit grown in British North America. The attention 

 paid to the apple in the early days of the colonies is due, no doubt, to the 

 superior intelligence of many of the first settlers. Its distribution in western 

 Pennsylvania and Ohio Avas greatly aided by the efforts of an eccentric 

 man who a]ipeared in the settlements of western Pennsylvania early in the 

 present century and busied himself about cider-mills in collecting apple-seeds 

 from the pomace. Having placed the seeds in sacks, he loaded them upon 

 a horse and proceeded to the unoccupied lands in Pennsylvania and Ohio, 

 and wherever he found a clearing, he planted his seeds ; then felling trees 



Pykos malus (Apple). 



