THE APPLE. 7 



crab vinegar, or verjuice, when applied externally is good 

 for strains, spasms, and cramps. 



The chemical composition of the apple is, chlorophylle, 

 sugar, gum, vegetable fibre, albumen, malic acid, tannin 

 and gaUic acid, hme, and a great quantity of water. 



The apple may be grown on almost any description of 

 soil, provided it is not absolutely wet. That on which it 

 succeeds best is a humid sandy loam, or a well-drained 

 strong clay, which if it possesses a calcareous, or gravelly 

 subsoil, will be still more advantageous. It is not requisite 

 that it should be of so great depth as for pears, as the 

 . apple, having no tap-root, does not penetrate so far into the 

 soil. From eighteen inches to two feet will be found a 

 good depth ; but where the soil is good, and the subsoil 

 sufficiently humid without being literally wet, even a foot 

 to eighteen inches will answer every purpose. 



CLASSIFICATION OF APPLES. 



A great desideratum in pomological science is, a system of classifica- 

 tion for the apple, founded on characters which are at once permanent 

 and well defined. The Germans have been most assiduous in endeavor- 

 ing to attain this object, and many systems have been suggested, of which 

 those of Manger, Sickler, Christ, and Diel, are most generally known. 

 But it is to Diel that the greatest merit is due, for having produced a 

 system, which, though far from perfect, is greatly in advance of any 

 which had hitherto been produced ; and which has been universally 

 adopted by all the German pomologists. In 1847, my friend Dochnahl, 

 an eminent and assiduous pomologist, published a system, based upon 

 that of Diel, of which it is a modification, and which possesses such ad- 

 vantagesover its type,as to be more easily reduced to practise. 



As the systems of Diel and Dochnahl, are certainly the best which 

 have yet appeared, I have introduced them here, for the benefit of those 

 Vho may want a groundwork on which to form an arrangement. 



