CHAPTER IV. 



THE APPLE. 



In its natural state the apple is indigenous to 

 most parts of Europe, and known in common 

 parlance as the Crab-tree, botanically as Pyrus- 

 Malus, Linn. : Malus communis, Dec. As a 

 fruit-bearing tree it is cultivated in all civilised 

 countries, but more especially in those of tem- 

 perate climates. In a natural state it is un- 

 known in America ; but when it was introduced 

 there is as unknown to us as the period when 

 the first remove took place from the crab or 

 wild state to the useful or cultivated. " It is 

 probable," Hogg, in his excellent work on the 

 Apple, remarks, " that it has existed as an indi- 

 genous tree throughout all ages, and that the 

 most ancient varieties were accidental variations 

 of the original species, with which the forests 

 abounded. These being cultivated, and sub- 

 jected to the art and industry of man, would 

 give rise to other varieties, and thus a gradual 

 amelioration of the fruit would be obtained. 

 That such a change might take place naturally 

 in Britain, as well as in other parts of Europe, 

 where it existed indigenously, is highly probable ; 

 and that some improvement in this respect had 

 taken place prior to the Roman invasion is natu- 

 ral to suppose ; but of this we have no certain 

 record, because the history of our country ex- 

 tends no farther back. That a similar amelio- 

 ration had taken place at a much earlier period 

 in other countries is certain, as the apple is 

 spoken of as existing for ages before. History, 

 however, informs us that apples were not only 

 brought to England by the Romans, but that in 

 the days of Pliny they possessed two-and-twenty 

 varieties." Mr Hogg is of opinion that the apple 

 existed in this country at a very early period, 

 and remarks, t( that it was known to the ancient 

 Britons before the arrival of the Romans, is 

 evident from their language. In Celtic it is 

 called Abhall or Abhal; in Welsh, Aval; in 

 Armoric, Afall and Avail; in Cornish, Aval and 

 Avel. The word is derived from the pure Celtic, 

 Ball, signifying any round body. The ancient 

 Glastonbury was called by the Britons Ynys 

 Avallac, and Ynys Avallon, which signifies an 

 apple orchard, and from this its Roman name 

 avallonia was derived." The apple must there- 

 fore have been known in Britain before the 

 arrival of the Romans, and that it continued to 

 exist after they had left the island, and before 

 the Norman conquest, is certified by William of 



Malmesbury, who says " that King Edgar, in 

 973, lay down under the shade of a wild apple- 

 tree." In a bull of Pope Alexander III., in the 

 year 1175, confirming the property belonging to 

 the monastery of Winchcombe, in Gloucester- 

 shire, is mentioned " the town of Twining, with 

 all the lands, orchards, meadows," &c. And in 

 a charter of King John, granting property to 

 the priory of Lanthony, near Gloucester, is 

 mentioned "the church of Herdesley, with 12 

 acres of land and an orchard." That any of 

 these early varieties, or even of the aboriginals, 

 now exist is highly improbable, as the intro- 

 duced kinds in all probability were lost between 

 the time when the Romans quitted Britain and 

 that when the ecclesiastical power began to be 

 established. Many seedlings might, however, 

 during this period, have been originated natur- 

 ally from the seeds of the early imported sorts, 

 as well as from those of our earliest varieties. 

 From such sources, and the importations after- 

 wards by the monks of Norman varieties, it is 

 probable that the stock of apples was first 

 raised in England. The same causes would 

 lead in time to their dispersion into Scotland 

 and Ireland. As the priesthood in those days 

 combined with their own profession various 

 others, of which horticulture, we are informed 

 by their historians, was one, it is quite reason- 

 able to suppose, as they spread over the king- 

 dom, that they carried the apple with them. 

 If any of the originally imported sorts do really 

 exist, which some think probable, it must have 

 been by the process of engrafting, by which pro- 

 cess any variety may be continued for ages upon 

 the principle of extension of its actual parts, 

 while the tree from which the scions have been 

 taken may have long ceased in itself to exist. 

 In its wilding state, the apple is a tree of con- 

 siderable longevity, while in its improved or 

 cultivated state it is much less so ; the hardier 

 kinds being supposed by some to extend only to 

 from two to three centuries, many unquestion- 

 ably not nearly so long. Much of this, however, 

 depends on soil and situation. Like all other 

 trees, the apple accommodates itself to the soil 

 and situation in which it may be placed to a 

 greater or less degree, and many varieties attain 

 a much greater degree of perfection in some 

 localities than others. The apple succeeds best 

 within a certain range of latitude, of which the 



