78 



APPLE 



APPLESEED 



before the flowers open, it is advisable to add Paris green 

 or other arsenical poison to the Bordeaux mixture at the 

 early spraying. The number of times to spray depends 



108. Spur and fruit- 

 bud of apple. 



109. One apple sets in 

 a cluster. 



upon the thoroughness of the work, the pests to be oom- 

 batted, and the season ; but it is a good rule to expect 

 to spray with the combined Bordeaux and Paris green 

 mixture when the buds burst, and again when the petals 

 have fallen. In the Plains country, less spraying may 

 be necessary for the fungous diseases. 



The apple commonly bears on spurs. The fruit-bud is 

 distinguished by its greater size (usually somewhat 

 thicker than its branch), its greater width In proportion 

 to its length, and more conspicuous pubescence. It is 

 also distinguished by its position. A fruit-bud is shown 

 in Pig. 108. A fruit-scar is shown near the base of the 

 branch. If this fruit was borne in 1898, the side branch 

 grew in 1899, from a bud which came into existence in 

 1898. If we go back to the spring of 1898, the matter can 

 be made plain. A cluster of flowers appeared. One 

 flower set a fruit (Pig. 109). This apple is at the end of 

 the branchlet or spur. The spur cannot increase in 

 length in the same axis. Therefore, a bud appears on 

 the side (Pig. 110). The fruit absorbs the energies of 

 the spur. There is little nourishment left for the bud. 

 The bud awaits its opportunity ; the following year it 

 grows into a branchlet and makes a fruit-bud at its end 

 (Pig. 108) ; and thereby there arises an alternation in 

 fruit-bearing. 



The apple is budded or root-grafted upon common 

 apple seedlings. These seedlings are usually grown from 



110. Showing the side bud which is to continue 

 the spur the followinir year. 



seeds obtained from cider mills. In the Bast, budded 

 trees are preferred. In the West, root-grafted trees are 

 preferred, largely because own-rooted trees of known 



hardiness can be secured. {See Graftage.) In Russia, 

 seedlings of Pyrus baccata are used as stocks. They 

 prevent root-killing, and give earlier fruit-bearing. Ap- 

 ples are dwarfed by working them on various kinds of 

 Paradise and Doucin stocks. These stocks are merely 

 naturally dwarf forms of the common apple, and which, 

 in some remote time, have originated from seeds. Dwarf 

 apples are much grown in Europe, where small-area cul- 

 tivation and wall-training are common, but they are lit- 

 tle known in America. Apple trees are usually planted 

 when two or three years old. 



The varieties of apple trees actually on sale in North 

 America in any year are not far from 1,000 kinds. Each 

 great geographical area has varieties which are particu- 

 larly adapted to it. In the northern Mississippi valley, 

 there are few of the eastern-states apples which thrive. 

 Varieties have been introduced from Russia with the 

 expectation that they will be adapted to the region ; but 

 more is to be expected of their progeny than of them- 

 selves. Varieties of local origin, coming from various 

 stem types, are now providing that country with satis- 

 factory apples. In the selection of varieties, one should 

 be guided bythis adaptation to the region, andbythe pur- 

 pose for which the fruit is designed to be grown. Con- 

 sult the recom- 

 mended lists of 

 the state horti- 

 cultural socie- 

 ties ; ask per- 

 sons who have 

 had experience 

 in the given re- 

 gion ; write to 

 the experiment 

 station; enquire 

 at the markets. 

 The leading 

 commercial va- 

 rieties in North 

 America are Al- 

 bemarle Pippin, 

 American- Gol- 

 den Russet, As- 

 trachan, Baldwin, Ben Davis, Blue Pearmain, Duchess 

 of Oldenburg, Pameuse, Gilliflower, Gravenstein, Janet, 

 King, Lawver, Maiden's Blush, Missouri Pippin, New- 

 town Pippin, Northern Spy, Peck's Pleasant, Pennock, 

 Rhode Island Greening, Rome 

 Beauty, Shockley, Twenty Ounce, 

 Wealthy ,Willow Twig, Wolf River, 

 York Imperial. See Plate I. Bald- 

 win and Ben Davis, the former of 

 inferior quality and the latter of 

 worse, hold the supremacy in 

 American market apples. The 

 apples of the eastern and central 

 country tend towards flattened or 

 oblate shapes (Pig. 111). The typi- 

 cal form of the so-called long or 

 conical American apple may be 

 seen in Fig. 110. 'The apples of 



Europe are often distinctly attenuated and ribbed at the 

 apex (Fig. 112) ; and this form is also accented in the 

 regions beyond the Rockies. 



•Three books devoted wholly to the apple have ap- 

 peared in North America : Warder, Apples, 1867 (the 

 best) ; Todd, Apple Culturist, 1871 ; Bailey, Field Notes 

 on Apple Culture, 1886. Consult, also. Vol. 25, Nebraska 

 State Horticultural Society, 1894 ; The Apple, a report 

 of the Kansas State Horticultural Society, 1898. Nearly 

 all the fruit manuals devote space to the apple. 



L. H. B. 



APPLESEED, JOHHNY. An interesting and eccen- 

 tric character, who sowed apple seeds in the wilds of 

 Ohio and Indiana between 1801 and 1847. His real name 

 was Jonathan Chapman. He was born in Boston in 

 1775, and died in 1847. For 46 years he walked bare- 

 foot through the wilderness, and was never harmed by 

 snakes, wild animals, or Indians. He was often clad in 

 a coffee-sack, in which he made holes for the arms and 

 legs. He would never kill any creature, and considered 

 pruning and grafting wicked. Swedenborg and the 



111. The flat or oblate American apple. 



Afi Irish apple. 



