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ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



purpose of enabling me to ascertain what sort it was that Pallas 

 meant as Malm prcccox. Generally speaking, the Russian Apples 

 are spiny ; their wood is exactly of the same colour (a brownish 

 violet) as that of our wild plants. They are, moreover, glabrous 

 or pubescent. I have received from the Government of Nov- 

 gerod, district of Krestz, from Cherson, Charkow, from the en- 

 virons of Moscow, &c. Mr. Schrceder has sent me from the 

 Jardin Agronomique of the latter city specimens which are spiny 

 or spineless, and the same characters are met with in others which 

 I have received from Savoy. I have received or gathered for my- 

 self Wild Apples, and I have often seen yellow and red, yellow 

 (fructu candido) and streaked (panachee) fruits, as in our culti- 

 vated Apples. It must not be forgotten that the inhabitants of 

 the lake-dwellings already possessed Apples (see ' Gardener's 

 Chronicle,' 18G6, p. 1068). There is not the slightest doubt on 

 this matter, as neither the flesh nor the pips of Apples can be 

 confounded with the pulp and seeds of other fruits — of the Pear, 

 for instance, of which latter I have not seen a trace among the 

 debris of the alimentary substances of these ancient races. The 

 period of flowering offers no reliable character. We have at the 

 present time in flower in the Museum garden Paradise Apples 

 and Doucin Apples ; and whoever has studied cultivated plants 

 knows well that they all present early and late races. Apples 

 form no exception to the rule. The Horse- Chestnut of the 

 Tuilleries garden, called, by reason of its early flowering, " Mar- 

 ronnier du vingt Mars," is an illustration, and hundreds of others 

 might be cited. It must be remarked also that Pallas does not 

 indicate the date of flowering of his Malus prcecox, and that the 

 precocity can only be attributed to the fruit " Johannis Apfel." 

 The St. John's Apple is the analogue of our St. John's Pear, the 

 fruit of which ripens at the end of June. 



There is, then, absolutely nothing conclusive in the character 

 taken from the precocity of the flower. 



In my own opinion there is only a single species of Wild Apple 

 in Europe, and this tree varies like all others. Nature has not 

 two methods of procedure. She carries on her operations in the 

 fields in the same way that she does in our gardens. She multi- 

 plies species by modifying, more or less profoundly, their forms. 

 This is a point which seems too often ignored or forgotten. It is 

 a mistake to suppose that our Wild Apples can be divided into 

 two well-marked groups — the one with pubescent leaves and 



