260 
The Garden Magazine, June, 1920 
introduction of Christianity. Other authorities claim that 
the Apple was to the Druids a sacred or semi-sacred tree, and 
that it was cultivated in Britain from the earliest ages. 
1 'he Apple tree is mentioned by Theophrastus and Herodotus, 
and is also distinguished by legends in the mythologies of the 
Greeks, the Scandinavians, and the Druids. Hercules was 
worshipped by the Thebans under the name of Melius, and 
apples were offered at his altars. The ancient Welsh bards 
were rewarded for excelling in song by “the token of the Apple 
spray.” 
The Apples of the east, or Orient, have been derived from 
Malus asiatica. which grows wild on the margins of woods and on 
the banks of mountain torrents in Hupeh, central China, where 
1 discovered it in 1907. In habit, general appearance and 
flowers it resembles M. pumila, but the fruit stalk is much 
The Apple, 
most anciently 
cultivated of 
all fruits and 
richest in tra- 
dition, reaches 
its highest de- 
velopment in 
the western 
hemisphere 
longer and more slender and 
the fruit is small. When the 
Chinese first began to culti- 
vate this Apple there is no 
knowledge; but it was long, 
long ago; and from China it 
has been introduced to Korea 
and Japan — where, however, 
it is fast being displaced by 
Apples of the European ty pe, 
introduced from America. 
The history of the Common 
Pear — Pyrus communis — 
closely parallels that of the 
Apple but there is much less 
folk-lore gathered round it. 
It is mentioned by the earliest 
writers as abundant in Syria 
and Greece, and from the latter 
country it appears to have been 
brought to Italy. The Romans introduced it to France 
and Britain and the early settlers brought it to this country. 
Theophrastus speaks of the productiveness of the old Pear 
tree, and Virgil mentions some pears which he received from 
Cato. Pliny, in his 15th book, describes the varieties in 
cultivation in his time as being exceedingly numerous. 
The parent of our Pears is undoubtedly of Eurasian origin, 
being found over a considerable portion of Europe and east- 
ward to the Caucasus and northern Persia, but it is difficult 
to tell between naturalized escapes from cultivation and true 
wildings. 
We are entirely without knowledge as to how long the 
Chinese have cultivated their Pears, but three thousand years is 
not an exaggerated estimate. One group known generally as 
the Sand Pear, was introduced into Japan more than a thousand 
years ago and is very extensively cultivated there to this day. 
The Pears of the Orient are not of the familiar pear-shape but 
are generally flattened and depressed top and bottom like our 
Apples, though a few are egg-shaped. They are very firm and 
gritty in texture, and rich in a sweet watery juice. At present 
it is certain that two species, Pyrus serotina and P. ussuriensis, 
have been concerned in their evolution; whether others have 
played a part has yet to be determined. 
The Sand Pears, of which there are brown- and green-skinned 
kinds have apparently all been derived from P. serotina, a com- 
mon wild tree in central China, where 1 discovered it in 1900 
and introduced it into the Arnold Arboretum in 1909. It has 
not been found wild elsewhere. The other species (P. ussuri- 
ensis) ismore northern, being abundant incentraland northern 
Korea, less so in Manchuria ; it has recently been found wild in 
Japan in the region round Mt. Fuji and on the mountains of 
Shinano province in mid-Japan. Many varieties of this are 
grown in Korea and Manchuria and the most northern parts of 
China. Around Peking a variety known as the White Pear 
having a delicious little, apple-shaped fruit of a pale yellow 
color is much grown. There are a few hybrids between the 
Sand Pear and the European Pear, the best known being the 
Kieffer which we grow largely for the canneries. 
The Quince — Cydonia vulgaris — is now-a-days more es- 
teemed in New England than in Britain. A low tree with 
tortuous, rambling branches, considered 
native of southern France and central 
Europe, it was known to the Greeks 
and Romans and by both nations held 
in high estimation. By the ancients it 
was considered the emblem of love, hap- 
piness, and fruitfulness. 1 1 wasdedicated 
to Venus and the nuptial chambers of the 
Greeks and Romans were decorated with 
the fruit, and the bride and bridegroom 
also ate it as soon as the marriage cere- 
mony was performed. Three species of 
Quince grow in eastern Asia but their 
fruits are of little value; they are, how- 
ever, very decorative garden subjects. 
Another old fruit tree seldom seen now- 
a-days is the Medlar (Mespilus german- 
ica) whose fruit is not eaten until it is 
in a state of incipient decay, when it is 
very agreeable to some palates. 
Now let us consider the stone fruits 
Dedicated by the ancients to Venus, 
the Quince is beautiful enough in flower 
and fruit and delicious enough when 
properly served, to merit popularity 
Cherries were 
one of the first 
fruits planted 
by the settlers 
here, just as 
they were 
planted by 
the Romans 
in Britain six- 
teen hundred 
years before 
