46 



THE GAEDENEE'S ASSISTANT. 



the matter, improved systems are in operation, 

 the cider is presented to the consumer in a more 

 pleasing form, and the better brands are decidedly 

 superior to many of the cheap foreign wines. 



In short, the Apple merits all the attention 

 that can be accorded to it, whether it be grown 

 simply for home consumption or for general 

 commercial purposes, and Ave purpose in the 

 course of this chapter to review the aspects of 

 the subject which most concern the cultivator 

 generally. 



Evolution of the Apple. — The origin of the in- 

 numerable varieties of cultivated Apples is 

 attributed to the Common Crab — Pyrus Mains 

 (fig. 844) — still found wild in many districts of 

 Great Britain, and having a wide distribution 



Fig. 844.— Crab Apple (Pyrus Mains), (i.) 



throughout the temperate countries of Europe 

 and part of Asia. There is evidence that it has 

 been used as food and cultivated by man for 

 upwards of four thousand years, and specimens 

 of the dried or carbonized fruits have been 

 found in the lake dwellings of central Europe 

 dating from prehistoric times. Where the 

 first varieties and the first cultivation com- 

 menced is not known, but the evolution of the 

 Apple as we know it has been a long and gradual 

 process. The wild Crab of our hedgerows does 

 not vary so much in its fruits as it does in its 

 habit and vigour of growth, though in some 

 districts in England a distinction is made by 

 the country people between Crabs and Crab- 

 Apples, the latter being regarded as a larger 

 type. Some differences of this kind are, how- 

 ever, no doubt due to accidental advantages of 

 soil or situation. In raising seedlings for stocks 

 from the Crabs gathered in the hedgerows it is 

 remarkable what surprising diversities of growth 



are obtained, indicating the capacity for varia- 

 tion which exists in the plant. The average 

 size of the wild fruits found at the present time 

 in Great Britain is from 1 inch to 1J inch in 

 diameter, and this does not differ materially 

 from the size of the Apples found amongst the 

 remains of the Swiss lake dwellings. We have 

 seen a marked improvement in the fruit of the 

 Crab in one generation, from the seed of a wild 

 type, when grown under favourable conditions. 

 There is no doubt that we owe the greater 

 number of the finely developed and varied 

 Apples of the present time to selection, at first 

 slow, but which within the past two hundred 

 years has been considerably accelerated by the 

 increased number of breeders and cultivators. 



Until grafting and budding became the general 

 method of propagation for the Apple the usual 

 means was by seed. At the present time there 

 are thousands of old seedling Apples scattered 

 about the country which originated in this way, 

 many of which have been perpetuated locally. 

 Some of these are good and distinct, but the 

 majority are either worthless or not superior 

 to others in general cultivation. 



A glance at the list of old varieties will show 

 that nearly all, to within recent times, were 

 practically chance seedlings of unknown origin. 

 It has been claimed that the Api or Lady Apple, 

 now so much grown in America, and frequently 

 seen in London shops in neat little boxes, is the 

 oldest Apple in cultivation, as it is believed to 

 have been known to the Eomans. Continental 

 pomologists dispute this, however, and state 

 that it was found as a wilding in the forest of 

 Api in Brittany, and that it was so recorded 

 early in the seventeenth century. The Old 

 English Pearmain was regarded by the late 

 Dr. Hogg as "the oldest English Apple on 

 record ", as it was cultivated in Norfolk before 

 the year 1200, though nothing is known of its 

 origin. The Costard was probably contempor- 

 aneous, as it was known before 1292. Next 

 amongst the ancient Apples must be placed the 

 London Pippin, which was in cultivation prior 

 to 1580, while in the seventeenth century the 

 best known were the Catshead, the English 

 Codlin, the Golden Pippin, Golden Eeinette, 

 the Joanneting, the Pomewater, the Summer 

 Pearmain, and the Winter Quoining, concerning 

 the origin of which nothing whatever is known, 

 though they were all doubtless seedlings selected 

 for their marked characters. Some of the above 

 are still grown in gardens, but there are many 

 others of our best-known Apples which have 

 come to us in a similar way, such, for instance, 



