945 



Cfje Crragttrg cf 330tang. 



[PYEUS 



of the Caucasus. Its cultivation extends ' 

 to the most northern extremity of Britain. 

 We learn from a Synopsis of the Vegetable 

 Products of Norway, by Dr. Schiibler, and 

 from specimens sent to the International 

 Exhibition in 1862, from that country, 

 that 'the Crab Apple grows wild in the 

 lowlands as far north as Drontheim (lat. 

 63^ 25'). Even in Romsdal (lat. 62° 25'), 

 specimens are found growing wild from 

 twenty to thirty feet in height, with stems 

 of two feet in diameter. Cultivated apple- 

 trees grow as standards up to lat. 65° 10', 

 and the earlier sorts will undoubtedly 

 ripenfarther north against walls. Beyond 

 this degree of latitude scarcely any apple- 

 trees are to be found in any other part of 

 the world.' It appears from this statement 

 that the Apple will grow in a very high lati- 

 tude, and that it is amongst the hardiest of 

 our fruit-trees. Its blossoms, however, are 

 more susceptible of cold than are even 

 those of the peach and nectarine ; the 

 latter naturally expand earlier than those 

 of the apple, appearing when the winter 

 is scarcely over— in March; whereas the 

 { apple does not bloom till May, when the 

 I nights are in general much warmer than 

 when the peach comes in flower ; and not 

 ! being adapted to bear the vicissitudes to 

 j which the latter is subject, its blossoms 

 | more readily perish with a slight degree of 

 frost. 



Although the Apple exists in high lati- 

 tildes, its fruit in such is but small— not 

 from the excessive cold to which the tree 

 I is exposed in winter, but for want of sirffi- 

 I cient heat in summer ; for in Nova Scotia, 

 where the winters are long and intensely 

 cold, the apples are large and of splendid 

 colour ; but there the summers, though ; 

 I short, are very hot. In tropical climates j 

 the Apple does not succeed ; but its culti- 

 i vation extends from the far north, as we 

 ! have mentioned, to the warmer parts of 

 i the temperate zone, thus extending over i 

 ' a vast portion of the globe. According to 

 i Royle, it is cultivated in the north of In- 

 { dia, but more abundantly in Kashmir and 

 adjoining countries. It is perfectly natu- 

 ralised in America ; in the northern and 

 i middle portions of the United States, its 

 i produce is very fine ; in Canada likewise, 



as will be recollected by those who saw i 

 1 the Canadian specimens at the Interna- 

 i tional Exhibition of fruits at South Ken- 

 sington. Large quantities of American 

 i apples are regularly exported in the ice- 

 ships from Boston, in the United States, 

 to the seaports of India and other Eastern 

 ; countries, where the apple-tree is not 

 j grown ; and being packed in ice they are 

 ; landed in excellent condition, and are es- 

 | teemed a great luxury by the European in- 

 i habitants. In the southern hemisphere, 

 in Australia and in New Zealand, where, in 

 i the memory of the present generation, 

 nothing better in the way of fruits than a 

 few wild berries were to be met with, and 

 where of apples there were none, the latter 

 are now abundant, and attain great perfec- 

 tion. 

 When this most useful fruit was first 



cultivated in Britain is uncertain— proba- 

 bly by the Romans, to whom twenty-two 

 varieties were known in Pliny's time. 

 Many kinds of cider-apples appear, from 

 their names, to have been introduced from 

 Normandy ; but many are doubtless seed- 

 lings that have sprung up from pips, and, 

 without grafting, have been found to an- 

 swer the purpose of cider-making. From 

 their names, we can trace the origin of 

 many of our dessert and kitchen varieties 

 in cultivation at the present day to Hol- 

 land, and to Prance; but on the whole the 

 varieties of English origin are the best 

 for our climate, and the most suitable to 

 English taste. Many of the foreign kinds 

 have a mawkish sweetness ; whereas we 

 prefer not sweetness alone, but a brisk 

 subacid sugary apple, and of such we have 

 a vast number. The collection of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society contains up- 

 wards of 1,500 varieties of dessert, kitchen, 

 and cider apples, and more are continually 

 being raised. Many of the above are, 

 however, considered no longer worthy of 

 cultivation, but some of English origin 

 have acquired almost universal celebrity ; 

 for instance, the Golden Pippin, Ribston 

 Pippin, Court of Wick, Scarlet Nonpareil, 

 Blenheim Pippin, &c. ; and recently Cox's 

 Orange Pippin has been brought into no- 

 tice, and is likely to supersede even the 

 Ribston Pippin. 



The uses of the Apple are familiar to 

 every one. For a great part of the year it 

 can be employed for pies, tarts, sauces, 

 and in confectionery, &c. The fermented 

 juice forms cider, of which great quanti- 

 ties are made in England and in foreign 

 countries, especially those in which the 

 vine cannot be grown successfully for 

 wine-making. The circumstance of the 

 Apple being so easily cultivated, so gene- 

 rally liked, and so useful in various ways 

 to all classes, rich and poor, accounts for 

 the extensiveness of its cultivation wher- 

 ever it was known in old countries, and 

 likewise for the eagerness with which it is 

 obtained and rapidly propagated in our 

 new colonial settlements. 



The Common Pear-tree, P. communis, 

 grows to the height of thirty to sixty 

 rarely seventy feet, and assumes generally 

 a pyramidal form of growth. The branches 

 are thorny, and the leaves ovate and ser- 

 rated. Under cultivation the thorns dis- 

 appear, and fruit-buds are formed instead; 

 and the leaves are less sharply serrated, 

 sometimes only crenated, and frequently 

 almost entire. The flowers come in corymbs 

 of from five to nine, all of which sometimes 

 set their fruit; but in that case, from 

 being so numerous, the fruits do not at- 

 tain a large size if they all hang on to 

 maturity. Generally a few only of each 

 corymb take the lead, and in some cases 

 only one; the rest, unable to compete, 

 drop off at an early stage of their growth. 



The name of Pyrus is derived from the 

 Celtic Peren, and to this most of the 

 European names of the Pear may be easily 

 traced. Thus in Italian and Spanish the 

 Pear is called Per a ; in German, Birn ; 



