mk},. Chap. X. APPLES. 349 



% 



and " it is extremely remarkable that this occurs almost exclusively among 

 varieties cultivated in Russia." 85 Another Eussian apple, the white Astracan, 

 possesses the singular property of becoming transparent, when ripe, like 

 some sorts of crabs. The api etoile has five prominent ridges, hence its 

 name ; the api noir is nearly black : the twin cluster pippin often bears 

 fruit joined in pairs. 8 ? The trees of the several sorts differ greatly in their 

 periods of leafing and flowering; in my orchard the Court Pendu Plat 

 produces its leaves so late, that during several springs I have thought it 

 dead. The Tiffin apple scarcely bears a leaf when in full bloom ; the 

 Cornish crab, on the other hand, bears so many leaves at this period that 

 the flowers can hardly be seen. 83 In some kinds the fruit ripens in mid- 

 summer; in others, late in the autumn. These several differences in 

 re jf : leafing, flowering, and fruiting, are not at all necessarily correlated ; for, 



as Andrew Knight has remarked, 89 no one can judge from the early flower- 

 ing of a new seedling, or from the early shedding or change of colour of 

 the leaves, whether it will mature its fruit early in the season. 



The varieties differ greatly in constitution. It is notorious that our 

 summers are not hot enough for the Newtown Pippin, 90 which is the glory 

 of the orchards near New York ; and so it is with several varieties which 

 we have imported from the Continent. On the other hand, our Court of 

 Wick succeeds well under the severe climate of Canada. The Calville rouge 

 de Micoud occasionally bears two crops during the same year. The Burr 

 Knot is covered with small excrescences, which emit roots so readily that 

 a branch with blossom-buds may be stuck in the ground, and will root 

 and bear a few fruit even during the first year. 91 Mr. Eivers has recently 

 described 92 some seedlings valuable from their roots running near the 

 surface. One of these seedlings was remarkable from its extremely dwarfed 

 size, "forming itself into a bush only a few inches in height." Many 

 varieties are particularly liable to canker in certain soils. But perhaps the 

 strangest constitutional peculiarity is that the Winter Majetin is not 

 attacked by the mealy bug or coccus; Lindley 93 states that in an orchard 

 in Norfolk infested with these insects the Majetin was quite free, though 

 the stock on which it was grafted was affected : Knight makes a similar 

 statement with respect to a cider apple, and adds that he only once saw 

 these insects just above the stock, but that three days afterwards they 

 entirely disappeared; this apple, however, was raised from a cross between 





86 Loudon's ' Gardener's Mag.,' vol. ' Transact, of Hort. Soc' vol. vi. p. 



vi., 1830, p. 83. 229. 



s ? See < Catalogue of Fruit in Garden 9 * < Transact. Hort. Boo./ vol. i. 1812, 



of Hort. Soc.,' 1842, and Downing's p. 120 



'American Fruit Trees.' 'n Journal of Horticulture,' March 



88 Loudon's 'Gardener's Magazine,' 13th, 1866 p 194 



VOl Q ; iV ™ 182 J\ P - 112 ; , 93 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. iv. p. 



™ ' The Culture of the Apple,' p. 43. 68. For Knight's case, see vol. vi. p. 



^an Mons makes the same remark on 547. When the coccus first appeared 



the pear < Arbres Fruitiers,' torn, ii, in this country, it is said (vol. ii. p. 163) 



™V? ii , > rr , that it was more injurious to crab-stocks 



9 ° Lindley s Horticulture, p. 116. than to the apples grafted on them. 



See also Knight on the Apple-Tree, in 



