THE APPLE. 



413 



other 12 feet 2 inches. These trees bore that 

 season about 30 or 40 bushels of fruit, but in 

 the year 1780 they together bore 10 bushels. 

 Another apple tree is also recorded by the same 

 authority, which measures in girth 12 feet 5 

 inches, and which has yielded in a single season 

 1214 bushels. 



Use of the apple. — In France and great part 

 of Germany the apple constitutes a considerable 

 portion of the food of the people of all grades, 

 and is extensively manufactured into cider, 

 brandy, &c. But it is in America that its value 

 is fully appreciated. The finest sorts are, as 

 with us. esteemed for the dessert, but they are 

 there eaten at meals to a much greater extent. 

 " As the earliest sorts ripen about the last of 

 June, and the latest can be preserved till that 

 season, it may be considered as a fruit in perfec- 

 tion the whole year. Besides its merits for the 

 dessert, the value of the apple is still greater for 

 the kitchen ; and in sauces, pies, tarts, preserves, 

 and jellies, and roasted and boiled, this fruit is 

 the constant and invaluable recourse of the 

 culinary department. Apple butter, made by 

 stewing pared and sliced sweet apples in new 

 cider until the whole is soft and pulpy, is a com- 

 mon and excellent article of food in many far- 

 mers' families, and is frequently made by the 

 barrel in Connecticut. The juice of the apple 

 unfermented is in some parts of the country 

 boiled down till it becomes molasses. When 

 fermented, it forms cider ; and if this is carefully 

 made from the best cider apples, it is nearly 

 equal to wine ; in fact, many hundreds of barrels 

 of the cider of New Jersey have been manufac- 

 tured in a single year into an imitation cham- 

 pagne, which is scarcely distinguished by many 

 from that made from the grape. 



" Dried apples are also a considerable article 

 of commerce. Farmers usually pare and quarter 

 them by hand, and dry them in the sun ; but 

 those who pursue it as a matter of trade pare 

 them by machinery, and dry them slowly in 

 ovens. They are then packed in bags or barrels, 

 and are used either at home, in sea stores, or 

 are exported." — Downing's Fruits and Fruit 

 Trees of America. 



Planting the apple. — Mr Hogg, in introduc- 

 tion to " British Pomology," says : " The apple 

 may be grown on almost any description of soil, 

 providing it is not absolutely wet. That on 

 which it succeeds best is a humid sandy loam, 

 or a well-drained strong clay, which, if it possess 

 a calcareous or gravelly subsoil, will be still 

 more advantageous. It is not requisite that it 

 should be of so great a depth as for pears, as 

 the apple, having no tap-root, does not penetrate 

 so far into the soil. From 18 inches to 2 feet 

 will be found a good depth ; but where the soil 

 is good, and the subsoil sufficiently humid, with- 

 out being literally wet, even 1 foot or 18 inches 

 will answer every purpose." Rogers, we think, 

 writes sensibly on this subject in K The Fruit 

 Cultivator," p. 8. He says, " The size and flavour 

 of the fruit, the general health and duration of 

 the trees, is most commonly the result of good 

 or bad soil. Climate and situation also affect 

 both trees and fruit, but not in the degree in 

 which the same are affected by the qualities pre- 

 VOL. II. 



dominant in the land. Of all soils to be met 

 with, that of a soft hazel loam, containing a small 

 portion of sand, seems to be the most congenial 

 to the apple generally. In such soils the tree is 

 seen to flourish longest, is most productive, and 

 remains freest from disease or attacks of insects." 

 He agrees with Mr Hogg as to depth of soil, and 

 adds, " If the bottom be wet, the trees should be 

 planted high, and every means taken to drain 

 the ground. A wet bottom of gravelly clay 

 should be avoided if possible, no kind of apple 

 thriving long if the roots once enter into such a 

 cold substratum." 



In planting pyramidal trained apples on the 

 paradise stock, they may be set at 5 feet distance 

 apart ; and if root-pruned every third or fourth 

 year, should they show symptoms of over-vigor- 

 ous growth, this will be found ample space for 

 them. The age of such trees, when planted, 

 should be from two to three years, and those 

 should be chosen which have a straight leading 

 stem, well furnished with buds and branches 

 from the stalk upwards. If the soil be shallow, 

 wet, or of indifferent quality, it will be advisable 

 to plant them on little mounds, by gathering the 

 surface-soil together ; or, better, by laying down 

 a wheelbarrow-load or two of fresh fibrous turfy 

 soil, and planting upon it. 



Deep-rooted soils in sheltered situations are 

 not the most proper for the apple, although 

 such have been most erroneously recommended ; 

 for it is often seen that apple trees succeed well 

 in any kind of loam, though it be not more than 

 1 foot in depth, so as the bottom is sound and 

 dry ; the roots take an extensive horizontal 

 range, the young wood is always of more mode- 

 rate growth, and better ripened than when 

 the roots strike deep into the ground. For all 

 kinds of training, young trees two years from 

 the graft should be chosen. Apples intended 

 for dwarf standards are worked low upon para- 

 dise stocks, to correct luxuriance in growth. 

 Those intended for half or full standards are 

 wrought high on crab or free stocks. The 

 varieties of apples are now so great that it may 

 reasonably be expected, and it is so, that one 

 variety succeeds in one sort of soil, and in one 

 situation, better than in others ; for this reason 

 we have given an extended list, so as to meet the 

 greatest variety of soils and circumstances. 



Criterion of a good apple — Dessert sorts. — Ele- 

 gance in form and colouring is no doubt a high 

 recommendation, and such produce the best 

 effects when on the table. It does not, how- 

 ever, by any means follow that the handsomest 

 apples are the best flavoured — often quite the 

 reverse. The Pomme dApi may be given as an 

 example. Medium or small-sized apples, such 

 as the golden pippin and nonpareils, afford a good 

 criterion ; while Adam's pearmain and Alex- 

 ander, although exceedingly handsome, are too 

 large to dish well, as confectioners and table- 

 dressers phrase it. In flavour they should be 

 sugary, rich ; and if highly aromatic, so much 

 more are they esteemed by connoisseurs. The 

 flesh should be firm, crisp, and juicy — proper- 

 ties which may in general be looked for in yel- 

 lowish-fleshed apples, and those having a brown- 

 ish russety skin marked with dull yellow and 



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