SEED-VESSELS WE EAT 207 



envelopes man has developed by the arts of horti- 

 culture into luscious and wholesome fruits. Be- 

 side trees, the family embraces shrubs, herbs, and 

 vines known for their fruits as useful and beautiful 

 additions to the fruit and flower garden. 



The core fruits are the apples, pears, quinces, 

 the medlar, and loquat. The seeds are borne in a 

 papery, five-celled ovary, surrounded by the 

 fleshy "pome," which we eat. The most im- 

 portant of these core fruits is the genus Malus, the 

 apple. 



APPLES 



The parent of the apples of the orchard is a 

 scraggly tree with sour, crabbed fruit enclosing the 

 core and seeds. It grows wild in the southeastern 

 parts of Europe, and the 'neighboring countries of 

 Asia Minor. From these parts it moved with the 

 drift of population westward, and was gradually 

 improved, until now it is grown throughout the 

 North Temperate Zone, and is spreading in South 

 America, Africa, and Australia. Along with civili- 

 zation, the apple has marched for unnumbered cen- 

 turies, the little nubbins found among the remains 

 of the early Lake-dwellers greatly improved upon 

 by the apples of classical literature. The varieties 

 shown at a horticultural fair in any country to- 



