X 



WHENCE COMES THE APPLE-TREE? 



If Ihe dwarf apple-tree goes back to the Middle Ages 

 and perhaps farther, then whence comes the apple orig- 

 inally? No one can surely answer. Carbonized apples 

 are found in the remains of the prehistoric lake dwellings 

 of Switzerland. When recorded history begins, apples 

 were well known and widely distributed. The apple- 

 tree is wild in many parts of Europe, but it is difiScult 

 to determine whether, in a given region, it is indigenous 

 or has run wild from cultivation. Wild apple-trees are 

 common in North America, but no one supposes that, the 

 orchard apple is native here. 



Expert opinion generally considers that the apple is 

 native in the region of the Caspian Sea and probably in 

 southeastern Europe. Perhaps it had spread westward 

 before the Aryan migrations. It had also probably spread 

 eastward, but it is not a cultivated fruit in China and 

 Japan except apparently as introduced in recent time. 

 The apple is essentially a fruit of central and northern 

 Europe, and of European migration and settlement. 



It is a fertile retrospect to conceive of the apple as an 

 attendant of the course of Western civiUzation. With- 

 out voice and leaving no record, it has nevertheless 

 followed man in his wanderings, encouraged his attain- 



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