CHAPTER LIV. 
THE COMMON APPLE-TREE. 
Diffusion of the Common Apple-tree.—Period of Cultivation in the 
United States.—Its Original Nativity.—Its Wild Thrift and Gen- 
eral Deportment.—The Many Varieties of its Parentage.—Hinder- 
ances to its Longevity.—Exceptional Trees, Where Grown.—Soil 
and Situation Necessary to Perfect its Productiveness. How Prop- 
agated.—Management Necessary when Propagating from Seed. 
Tux common apple-tree is widely diffused over many 
of the countries of the northern half of the Eastern Hem- 
isphere, where it is found as far north as the sixty-second 
degree of latitude, and southward in China, Japan, and the 
southern parts of India. It is also indigenous to North 
America, where it grows in a wild, stunted state on the 
borders of woodlands and in hedgerows, but was not 
brought under culture in the colonies until the seventeenth 
century, when zeal and rural economy in its cultivation 
were attended with most successful results. As to its 
also being a native of the eastern part of the world we 
can have no doubt, as mention is made of its fruit by the 
writers of Holy Writ, and authority has since established 
the estimation in which it was held; and, also, “it has 
been singularly connected with the first transgression 
and fall of man, the fruit of which is said to have been 
eaten by Eve in Paradise.” This tree, in its natural state, 
under favorable nurture, usually attains the height of 
thirty or forty feet, with a diameter of twelve to eigh- 
teen inches. Its natural growth of trunk is crooked and 
distorted, and that of its branches horizontal and wide 
spreading, and covered with an abundant foliage. It 
is the parent of innumerable varieties, called cultivated 
