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Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 10, No. 61, November, 1862
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 10, No. 61,
November, 1862, by Various This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 10, No. 61, November, 1862
Author: Various
Release Date: February 19, 2004 [EBook #11158]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE
ATLANTIC MONTHLY.
MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS.
VOL. X.--NOVEMBER, 1862.--NO. LXI.
WILD APPLES.
THE HISTORY OF THE APPLE-TREE.
It is remarkable how closely the history of the Apple-tree is connected with that of man. The geologist tells us that the order of the _Rosaceae_, which includes the Apple, also the true Grasses, and the _Labiatae_, or Mints, were introduced only a short time previous to the appearance of man on the globe.
It appears that apples made a part of the food of that unknown primitive people whose traces have lately been found at the bottom of the Swiss lakes, supposed to be older than the foundation of Rome, so old that they had no metallic implements. An entire black and shrivelled Crab-Apple has been recovered from their stores.
Tacitus says of the ancient Germans, that they satisfied their hunger with wild apples (_agrestia poma_) among other things.
Niebuhr observes that "the words for a hous