The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1891-11-14
APPLES.
From Philadelphia Ledger.


the apples of the past. No one knows
where the apple was originally indigenous.
1t is common with garden authors to write |
that ''by the skill of the pomolOgist the
delicious apple has been developed from
the wild crab" 1t is just as likely, from
American experience, that the wild crab of
the Old World is the degenerate escape
from cultivated trees We know that the
ancient Greeks cultivated it, but, as the
root of the word is the same in all, even
the most barbaric tongues, there is little
doubt of its being cultivated long before
the dawn of modern civilization. Remains of
what must have been very fine specimens
of apples are found in the mud under spots
where the lake dwellers of Switzerland had
their cabins long before it was safe for
human beings to found towns and villages
on land. That it Travelled with the white
man from his early Asiatic home is much
more likely than that nature, unaided by
man, spread it all over the woods and wilds
Of Northern Europe.
Among apples, as among living things,
there are freaks-forms appearing in indi-
vidual trees at the very extremes of normal
conditions. A member of the State Board
of Agriculture, in one of the northern
counties, has an apple tree that has never
had petal. No one would ever know that
it was in blossom, yet it bears fruit abund,
antly. This sheompIete and styles,,9 nop-es
parts of the flower, the peri.s,s. cheap pr
sential to fruitfulness Some contend that
the brilliant colors of the petals of flowers
are given to attract insects, and arrange for
cross-fertilization Others contend that the
petals act as protectors of the undeveloped
parts, while others believe that, to some
extent, they have the function of leaves,
and prepare food for the younger parts.
Whatever it be, We see by this freak it is
possible to have apples without them,
Then there are seedless apples-apples with
no core. Twins or even triplets are often
seen in apples, as in so many other organ
isms, and just as in other organisms by in
dependent germs coming into ojuxtaposition
in an early stage of development, when the
stronger body absorbs considerable For
ton of the other.
Once in a while some tree in an orchard
will take notion to produce a different
fruit from usual. Regularly producing
round apples, the novelty may be long
apple, or it may differ in color or some
other way. 1t is usual to refer this to the
influence of some other pollen. But those
who have made test experiments do not
find any immediate effects on the fruits,
though they do on the cotyledons or future
seed-leaves of the crossed fruit. On the
other hand, we know that plants have a
tendency to vary outside of any influence
on the seed The curled leaved willow was
raised from branch which pushed out
from regular weeping willow, and in the
same way many of the famous roses of the
florists were not raised from seeds, but from
branches, which, in some manner not yet
explained, bore flowers wholly unlike those
the plant had been in the habit of bearing.
Human pride does not like to say it does
not know, hence the intermixture of pollen
is popular explanation of this freak, but
the wiser person risks II do not know" as
about the true state of the case.
Another freak is for an apple usually
smooth to bear fruit with partially russeted
skin They have been seen with the upper
half russet and the lower smooth, looking
like huge acorns in their cups. Here we
can get pretty near the direct cause, though
we cannot yet understand how that cause
is brought into operation. First, we must
recall thai an apple is only changed branches
and leaves. Though changed It will yet
bear the characters of true branches. On
the bark of young apple trees we may see,
like needle punctures, small green spots,
and we see the same on smooth apples.
These little dots are known as cork cells
On the bark they remain undeveloped for
some ten years, when they proceed to work
under the cuticle, and the old and useless
bark is thrown off in thin scales. The rind
of the apple is the analogue of the bark in
the stems. The little dots or cork cells,
much weaker in the rind than in the stem,
start early with growth, and undermine
the cuticle, thus giving the russet appear
ance. All this can be seen with good
lens. In the regular russell apples the
tendency of the cork cells to form russell
on the apple is very strong. This is all
the difference between the true russell and
those which are only occasionally so.
Though we know this development of cork
cells is the cause, science has not yet given
us the slightest clue as to how these cork
cells come to be set in motion-why they
should not germinate so as to be destrnct-
i've in less than ten years in the branch,
and do it all in one year in the metamor-
phOsed apple.
Why is one kind of apple red, another
yellow, another green, even when ripe; or
why mixture of all these clors often in
one? Again the truthful answer is, ave
do not know" In flowers some have
thought color was given in order to make
them attractive to insects, the cross fertili-
zation which sometimes occurs by such in
sects visits being supposed to be of some
benefit to the race. Some pretty romano