4 



says the one which took its name from Petisius, who 

 reared it in his time, was the most excellent for eat- 

 ing, both on account of its sweetness and agreeable 

 flavour. He mentions nine-and- twenty kinds of 

 apples as being cultivated in Italy at about the com- 

 mencement of the Christian era. 



The practice of propagating the apple from seed is 

 recommended by all the Roman writers we have men- 

 tioned, and was continued to be advocated by other 

 Geoponic writers of the western empire in the frag- 

 ments of their works which have escaped to us. A 

 practice thus advocated to be adopted in the culture 

 of a hardy and favourite fruit readily accounts for the 

 vast number of varieties of the apple that have arisen. 



No fruit-tree excels the apple in aptitude to give 

 birth to seedling varieties ; and when we find that 

 these have continued to be raised in most parts of 

 Europe for some two thousand years, it is no w^onder 

 that the number of recognized varieties amounts to 

 more than 1400. It is certain, however, that the 

 most ancient varieties mentioned in the above quota- 

 tions long since have been obliterated. Even Pliny 

 notices the decay of apple-trees in his time, and ob- 

 serves that the apple-tree becomes old sooner than 

 any ether, and that with old age the fruit becomes 

 less, and is subject to be cankered and v/orm-eaten 

 even while on the tree. {Book 16, c. 27.) 



Yv e quite agree with Mr. Knight, Dr. Marty n, and 



