History Of Apple Trees

Apple trees were the most popularly grown fruitgrowing and planting when he established a
tree in colonial America and practically everynursery in the Midwest that sold both apple trees
settlement farm and backyard gardener plantedand seed to be planted for growing into trees in
this easily grown fruit tree, or easier, the seed ofthe 1800's. Over 2000 cultivars of apple trees are
the apple could be planted to establish alisted as being grown today, many of the trees
permanent food supply. Growing these apple treeresulting from the huge apple seed dispersion that
products could be eaten fresh or could be driedwas begun by the memorable ambition of Johnny
and preserved in many different ways to eat atAppleseed to entirely cover the landscape of
a later time. Historical instances on the existenceAmerica with the fruit of apple trees.
of apple trees are documented from folklore,Over the centuries, apple trees became
legends, stone images on carved tablets, petrifiedsusceptible to many disease problems such as fire
slices of apples on plates for tomb offerings, andblight; however, Dr. C.S. Crandall from the
overwhelming numbers of references fromUniversity of Illinois performed several
Hebrew Bible scriptures and innumerable writingsbackcrosses that involved modern cultivars and
from poetry, songs, literary publications, andthe apple tree ancestor ‘crabapple,' Malus
many other surviving accounts of all civilizations infloribunda. The wild crabapple contained an
the ancient world. One of the earliest archeologicalimmunity factor within its genetic composition
evidences of apple tree fruit comes from thetowards all major bacterial and fungal diseases of
remains of excavations from Jericho, Jordan, thatapple trees. In 1989, researchers from the
has been dated 6500 BC by radiochemical analysispomology department at Cornell University
of carbon atoms.extracted an immune fire blight gene from a
The petrified remains of apple slices that werenocturnal moth and transplanted it into an apple
found in a saucer of an ancient Mesopotamianfruit, resulting in the total defeat of fire blight in
tomb, the burial site of royalty dates back tothat particular apple tree cultivar.
2500 BC and was uncovered in southern Iran. InFruiting of apple trees is perhaps the most
the ancient historical accounts of the fruit of thetroublesome characteristic experienced by an
apple tree, there appears to be anorchardist or a backyard fruit tree gardener. Most
incomprehensible trail of evidence that no othercultivars of apple trees require cross pollination of
fruit could match. The interest shown in apples bytwo separate varieties in order to set fruit on the
the Greek and Roman philosophers, poets,tree.
historians, and literary masters was evenIt is necessary that the blossoms of the two
extended to Renaissance painters, royal chefs toapple tree flowers develop pollen at the same
the Tsars of Russia and too many othertime, in order that fruit will be set, which can be a
references to mention.tricky problem to correct. The simplist solution to
In colonial America, apple trees were grown andpollinate apple trees is to use the ancestor of the
planted from seeds in orchards by Williammodern day apple cultivars, the crabapple, which
Blackstone at Boston, Massachusetts in thesheds its pollen over a long period of time and
1600's. Early documents on file at the Nationaleasily overlaps the apple tree cultivar flowering
Library in Washington, DC suggest that all landperiod. Crabapple trees produce a fruit that is
owners in Massachusetts had begun growing applemuch smaller than the common apple, but it can
trees by the 1640's.be used in cooking in various ways, and it is loved
William Bartram, the famous explorer andby wildlife in the fall and winter when wildlife food
botanist, wrote in his book, Travels, "I observed,is scarce for animals and birds. Crabapple trees
in a very thriving condition, two or three largeare also valuable when used as flowering trees
apple trees" in 1773, while traveling near Mobile,that begin blooming in early spring with huge
Alabama. It is important to realize that these largeclusters of pink, white, and even red blossoms.
apple trees found growing in Alabama in 1773Several outstanding grafted flowering tree
could very easily have been grown from the seedselections are available, such as: Brandywine, Red
planted by Creek Indians. Those seed may havePerfection, Radiant, and Spring Snow.
been obtained by the Indians from AmericanApple trees are easy to grow, and if a gardener
colonists on the Eastern coast of the Unitedpurchases a large tree, he may experience fruit
States at a much earlier time or from Frenchdevelopment even on the first year of planting
farmers who settles in areas of agricultural landand growing. The selection of the proper cultivar
grants north of Mobile. General Oglethorpe plannedof grafted apple trees is extremely important,
in 1733 to plant "various plants, subtropical andbecause even though the apple fruit can be
temperate, which might prove valuable forgrown in most areas of the United States, the
Georgian farms and orchards," according totrees require different amounts of chilling
William Bartram in his book Travels, published 40temperatures in order to flower. The interesting
years later. William Bartram's father, Johnintroduction of low chill cultivars from Israel makes
Bartram, trip to "East Florida" (Florida, Georgia, andit possible to experience apple growing and
the Carolinas) was, in part at least, an attempt toplanting as far south as Florida. Certain popularly
inventory the plant resources of England's newgrown cultivars of apple trees in the United
acquisition—after expelling the Spanish fromStates today are: Arkansas Black, Gala, Granny
East Florida.Smith, Red Rome, Anna, Red Fuji, Yates, Golden
Many modern botanists believe that the improvedDelicious, Red Delicious, Anna, Ein Shemer, and
apple that we know today descended from theGolden Dorsett. Apples contain some mysterious
crabapple that is commonly interplanted with applequality that can preserve it from deterioration for
trees for cross pollination. Old documents recordcenturies. Apple slices can be dried and kept
that fact "cultivated apples descended fromdelicious for long periods of time. This mysterious
crab-tree or wild apple-Pyrus malus." Wildcharacteristic may be recognized by man's
crabapple tree seeds appeared on the list ofassociation of paradise being connected and
collected seeds in the Plant List of 1783 of Williamrelated to Eve and Adam picking apples from a
Bartram and his father, John Bartram. In Williamfruit tree growing in paradise for their eternal
Bartram's book, Travels in 1773, he "observedpleasure, that was planted by God and described
amongst them (fruit trees) the wild crab (Pyrusas the tree of life at the fabled Garden of Eden.
coronaria) in his explorations near Mobile, Alabama.We see this fruit of paradise recurs in the history
Robert Prince established the first operatingof many other ancient civilizations. A similar
nursery in the American colonies at Flushing, Newaccount that we read as children in the book of
York, in the 1700's, where he offered apple treesGenesis from the scriptures in the Hebrew Bible.
for sale at his nursery that was visited by GeneralPerhaps this mysterious genetic quality of apples
George Washington, who later became the firstin preservation makes it so important as providing
President of the United States. President Thomasmedical benefits backed up by that memorable
Jefferson was planting and growing apple trees atproverb, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away."
his fruit tree orchard in Monticello, Virginia, in theExperiments from researchers in California have
early 1800's.shown that apple fruit is very rich in antioxidants,
The legendary Johnny Appleseed was responsiblea biological compound that combats, stroke, heart
for the rapid development of the apple treesdisease, and many other health problems.