154 FRUIT. 



most useful nature to the cultivator of those important Hardy 

 Fruits, which was gathered in connection with them, was pub- 

 lished in the Reports issued by the Society. The proceed- 

 ings at those Conferences and the Reports, and the comments 

 thereon in the daily papers and the horticultural press, have 

 awakened a deep interest in the public mind as to the great 

 importance of the adoption of imprQved methods of cultivation 

 and the extension of fruit-growing for market, as a profitable 

 branch of rural industry and a means of increasing the home 

 supply of wholesome food for the people. It is therefore in 

 accordance with the nature of things that the fruit section in 

 horticultural exhibitions should be a centre of great attraction 

 to the public as well as of the keenest competition amongst 

 growers of fruits. 



THE APPLE. 



The Apple (Pyriis Mahis) is a native of Britain and most 

 European countries, and its cultivated forms hrne spread to all 

 the civilised parts of the temperate zones, thriving as well in 

 Southern Tasmania as it does in Northern Canada, and in 

 both producing as fine fruit as the best that can be raised 

 in its native habitats in Europe. It is supposed to have 

 been cultivated in Britain by the Romans, and since the 

 Middle Ages at least it has been the chief fruit grown in this 

 countrj'. ^Man}- fine showy kinds are now imported in large 

 quantities from abroad, and the dessert varieties are, as a 

 rule, sweeter and more melting than the same varieties of 

 home growth, but they lack the fine aroma and piquant 

 flavour of the latter, when in well-ripened condition. The 

 culinary varieties from abroad are also large and very hand- 

 some in appearance, and find a ready market among our 

 teeming population, but they are much inferior to the best 

 home-grown culinary varieties in brisk, sprightly flavour, and 

 good cooking qualities. 



Apples at exhibitions are usually divided into two classes, 

 Dessert and Culinary varieties. Of the former the follow- 

 ing are a few which ripen early, and are fit for exhibi- 

 tion at autumn shows a.^ "ripe" dessert fruit: — Devonshire 



