Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/635

 APPLE 599 The Appian Way. (See p. 698.) not derived from the Latin or French, is, ac- cording to Dr. Prior, of common origin with the Zend and Sanskrit ab or ap, water, and p'hala, fruit. The Latin pomum, from the root po, to drink, would also signify " a watery fruit." Whatever be the parent country of the apple, it was doubtless of eastern origin. Pliny mentions the crab and wild apples as small and sour, so sour " as to take the edge from off a knife ; " but some, he says, are re- markable for their " fine flavor and the pun- gency of their smell." Many varieties were cultivated about Rome, and they usually bore the names of those who originated them or grafted them. More than 20 sorts are men- tioned by Pliny, but none of these, if in exist-. ence now, can be identified from his brief and imperfect description. Probably the Romans introduced the apple into England as well as the pear, but the early chronicles are silent as to its subsequent history in that country until after the establishment of Christianity, when the monks and heads of religious houses plant- ed orchards, and henceforth the fruit became common. The early settlers of America brought apple trees, and an island in Boston harbor where they were planted still bears their name. The Indians helped to spread the fruit through the country, and "Indian or- chards" are common throughout New England. Whether in the wild state or cultivated, the apple is by no means a handsome tree. The stem is slow-growing, low-branching, with rigid, irregular branches, in many varieties pendent to the ground ; the bark after the tree has passed its early youth becomes rough and scaly; the diameter of the head is usually greater than its height, which seldom exceeds 30 feet ; the leaves are broad, tough, and rigid, those of sweet-fruited trees being usually of a darker green ; the blossoms are generally tinged with red and are sweet-scented ; the fruit is more or less depressed at the insertion of the peduncle; woody threads (10) pass through the fruit, being regularly disposed around the 2-5 carpels, which contain two seeds each. The apple tree is very tenacious of life, many specimens bearing fruit in this country at an age of nearly 200 years, and the best artificial varieties last from 50 to 80 years. Various species of the genus pyrus grow spon- taneously in Europe ; the P. mains is found as far north as 60 in western Russia. In the United States, the P. coronaria or American crab apple is abundant in the middle states and southward ; it is about 20 feet high, and the blossoms, which appear in May and are large, rose-colored, and sweet-scented, are followed by a greenish-yellow fragrant fruit about an inch in diameter. The apple does not grow well in warm climates, and although cultivated in China and India, it is only in the cooler and mountainous parts that it lives long, and the fruit is less abundant and inferior in quality. In the Hawaiian islands the apple trees planted some years ago seem to have entirely changed their habit of growth, and send up long, verti- cal, almost branchless shoots. Wherever the apple occurs in its truly wild state, it is usually armed with thorns while young. New and choice varieties of apples are obtained by planting seed, as about one in 10,000 of the resulting trees will prove better than the origi- nal, and a desirable kind once obtained may be continued by grafting or budding. In cul- ture deep limestone lands are the best, as indi- cated by the analysis of apple wood and bark by Prof. Emmons, who found in 100 parts of