The independent., 1907-03-07
APPLE AND THE APPLE TREE
IMPORTANT PLACE THEY FILL IN
MANS ECONOMY.
History of Fruit From Early Day
Until Grating Brought
Improvement.


respects may be regarded as the fruit
contributing most to the welfare and
enjoyment of mankind. The apple has
played most important part in his
tory. from the day when in the Garden
of Eden. it had more or less to do with
the future history of the human race
until the present season, when the fruit
of millions of trees are in thousands OF
markets for the delectation and sus-
tenance of the nations of men.
From the earliest recorded history to
the present time the apple has been a
fruitful theme of comment and dis
cussion. The famous apple OF discord,
the dissension caused by which led TO
the famous Trojan war and the use
of that remarkable military contriv-
anee the wooden horse, was golden
fruit on which was inscribed for the
most beautiful" Thrown by Erls, or
Discord. into the midst Of the assembl-
age gathered to celebrate the marriage
OF Peleus and Thetis, no claim was put
in for it by the bride of the occasion,
but the three highest goddesses, Juno,
Minerva and Venus, or Hera, Pallas
and AphrOdite, set up flyalfy Wnlcn
was not allayed when Paris, who was
called on to act as arbiter, after hear
ing the offers made by each to sWerve
his Judgment, accepted that Of Aphro-
dite OF "the fairest and most loving
wife in Greece" and gave to Venus the
prize In return the goddess drew the
shepherd Paris away from the noun
tains and his naiad love Oenone back
10 the busy marts of men, where he
saw and coveted Helen, the wife of
Menalaus. who in turn was smitten by
the charms of the youth, and went
from home with him to the city of
Pram, which Menelaus and his Gre
clan hosts proceeded to besiege. So the
"Iliad.'' with it's story of the siege Of
Troy, may be said to have been writ
ten because Of an apple.
In the Bible there are number Of
references to apples and the apple tree,
although the fruit referred to doubtless
differed much from the product on
modern trees. The quotations most fire.
ouently made from holy writ in which
apples are referred to is doubtless the
one in Proverbs, IA word fifty spoken
is like apples of gold in pictures Of sill
ver, In Solomon's song the Shulam-
ite maiden is represented as saying to
her lover "Stay me with fiagons; COM
fort me with apples" The Apples of
Sodom. or Dead sea fruit are repre-
sented as fair on the exterior, but with
in flied with ashes and dust, so that
a bite leads only to bitterness. Tacitus
and JosephuS refer to them, and Byron
says in "Childe Harold"
Like to the apples on the Dead sea
shore.
All ashes to the taste.
The oldtime Gallery of Geography
thus describes the apple: 'The fruit of
tbe osher or ashley tree, called apples
or oranges Of Sodom,' resembles a
smooth apple or orange, hangs inclus-
ters of three or four on a branch, and
is of a yellow color when ripe. Upon
heine struck or pressed it eXplodes
with a puff and is reduced to the rind
and a few fibres, being chiefly filled
with air.
While the apple to many persons is
not as appetizing as the orange, and il
cannot afford as much food as the
banana or provide the entire susten-
ance Of people as the breadfruit and
the date. it is the most important fruit
of the temperate regions and is widely
distributed around the world The com
mon apple has been in cultivation by
man since prehistoric times, and fossil
remains of it are found In cretaceous
strata ON this continent and in the ter.
ritorv OF Europe Charred portions Of
apples have been found with the re-
mains of the lake dwellers in Europe
and the cave men doubtless had the
fruit. The cultivation or the fruit un
doubtedly began as soon as mar
emerged from primitive barbarism. Th'
indigenous varieties OF Siberian cral
and Of the wild species found by th'
first white men who explored thu
praries In this country have been mucl
made use OF in develoing the moderr
fruit In china and Jaan native wild
apples are To be found. but they arr
not o' any especial value.
Improvement OF Apples.
The advance in the growth de
velopncnt and modification of the ap
pie for Improvement may be said u
date from the time when grating wa
discovered Before that time all apple
trees We're raised from the seeds o.
from shoots growing out OF the root
OF an old tree. The latter naturplll
tended a. reproduce the type of th'
parent. bat the trees grown frou see,