The different varieties of apples have all descended from a species of crab found wild in most parts of Europe. Although there are two or three species of wild crab belonging to this country, yet none of our cultivated, varieties have been raised from them, but rather from seeds of the species brought here by the colonists from Europe over two hundred varieties of apples are known at the present time. As a rule, the Apple is a hardy, slow-growing tree, with an irregular head, rigid branches, roughish bark, and a close-grained wood. It thrives best in limestone soils and deep loams. It will not flourish in wet soils or on those of a peaty or sandy character. As, a rule, the trees live to be fifty or eighty years of age, but there are specimens now bearing fruit in this country that are known to be over two hundred years old.

The wood is often stained black and used as ebony. It is also made into shoe lasts, cog-wheels and small articles of furniture, and is greatly prized in Italy for wood carving and statuary.

New and choice varieties of apples are derived from seeds planted to produce stocks. One stock in ten thousand may prove better than the original, and its virtues are perpetuated by layers, cuttings, graftings and budding. The tree is not subject to disease. Insects, notably the borer, the woolly aphids, the caterpillar, the apple moth and the bark louse, have to be guarded against, and several blights occasionally attack the foliage, but as a rule small loss is experienced from these sources.