THE APPLE FAMILY. 



405 



They are valued for their fruits ; none are of a poisonous 

 nature. 



Apple (Pyrus mains), Pear (Pi/rus communis). These in 

 their crab, or wild state, are natives of temperate Western 

 Asia and of Europe, AjDple trees and apples of gold* are 

 spoken of in the Bible, but it is supposed to mean the citron, 

 as there is no certain evidence of the Apples or Pears of the 

 present day being known to the Hebrews, except in the wild 

 crab state. They nevertheless appear to have been used 

 as food by the inhabitants of the prehistoric lake cities of 

 Switzerland, where remains have been found in a carbonized 

 state. The Pear was early cultivated by the Eomans, but it 

 is only within a few hundred years, or even a later period, 

 that the numerous fine sorts of both apples and pears have 

 been produced by the skill and art of cultivation. Although 

 apples are abundantly produced in this country, they never- 

 theless form an important article of import from the conti- 

 nent and United States. The purposes to which they are 

 applied in culinary uses, confectionery, and wine-making, 

 are numerous and well known. Cider is the fermented 

 juice of the fruit, and is extensively made in the southern 

 and western counties of England. 



Pears are an uncertain crop in this country, the supply of 

 the best fruits being imported from France and the Channel 

 Islands, where all the fine varieties originated. The fer- 

 mented juice forms the well-known drink called Perry. The 

 pear lives to a great age, even to several hundred years; the 

 wood in old trees is hard and much valued by turners and 

 cabinet-makers. 



Mountain Ash or Rowan Tree {Pyrus aucuparia). A 

 small tree, native of this country ; it attains the height of 20 

 or 30 feet, having erect branches and winged leaves. It is 

 highly ornamental in autumn and winter, with its beautiful 

 red berries, which are rough to the taste and not much 

 eaten, but afford abundance of food to the feathered tribe* 



* Prov. XXV. II; Song of Solomon, ii. 3, 5 ; Joel, i. 12, 



