Apples—from Eve to Grannie Smith

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 274, 22 December 1939, Page 8 (Supplement)

Apples—from Eve to Grannie Smith

APPLE publicity dates back to the early days of the Garden of Eden, when Adam started the vogue for “sob-stuff” by getting a lump in his throat. After this experiment in emotion an embargo was placed on apples, and what could have advertised them better? Never has such a brilliant strategy been repeated in the annals of ballyhoo. Can we wonder why no other fruit, not even the fig or grape, enjoys such human preference ? Without fear of contradiction, I can say that after this the whole world was apple-conscious, and in half the population the desire to eat apples was so overwhelming that price was no obstacle .... At this stage human nature had none of the cynical subtlety that endangers poor Father Christmas to-day. This preliminary publicity on behalf of the apple took root in human consciousness, and we find apples, the first fruit in the Garden of Eden, went with man, the pioneers, to be the first fruit in other lands .... The story of the apple is strangely linked wit!) the progress of man. No other form of vegetable life can claim an association so old . . . going back more than seven thousand years. Apples were first cultivated in the Caucasus, which was the real cradle of civilisation. From the shores of the Caspian Sea they spread to Persia, Samarkand and Assyria. Already they had won favour as a royal delicacy, from early bas-reliefs excavated in these districts it is evident that natural selection, or cultivation, during these vague millenniums had considerably enlarged the original wild-crab apple. Somewhere about this time the vast inland ocean that extended from the Caucasus to Manchuria dried up, leaving an arid desert, where once had been fertile fields. Geologists to-day believe that some great seismic disturbance broke down the rim of this raised basin and allowed the water to drain into Mesopotamia, as the Deluge, recorded in the Bible, and in the legends of Babylonia, Persia and Egypt. With the drying up of the great ocean all vegetation in that area perished, but lowlands, inundated with their fertile soil, blossomed forth with roses and apples. Between 2000 B.C. and 700 B.C. migrating Semites carried apple-pips across Europe. When the great multitude of Gelac and Cimmeri trekked westwards they found groves of apples in the Ukraine and along the Danube Valley—apples when scurvy and similar dietetic disorders were decimating their numbers. Planted with almost prophetic foresight by unknown pioneers, apples may have altered the destiny of mankind .... In the pioneer iuys of America, when the first covered waggons were lumbering out towards the great unknown, the vanguard of adventurers found groves of apples on the sunny slopes of hills where it was thought no white man had ever trod. These were the work of St. John Appleseed (alias John Chapman), who, alone and unarmed, tramped through snake-infested marshes and the territories of hostile Indians. With his axe he would clear a plot where the sun was bright and the soil rich, and, having planted the seed, would fence it about’ with brushwood and pass on to so'Jv .another. Apples, as you know, are one of the hardiest of all fruits, and will thrive under the most adverse climatic conditions. Their beneficial value to mankind is due principally to the anti-scor-

butic vitamins stored in the rich starch-cells which absorb the red and infra-red rays of sunlight. The chemical action of these rays on the chlorophyl imparts the vital properties to the starchpells, which, if the fruit is picked before ripe, will be deficient in ths healing power. Apples, thus, should be allowed to ripen on the tree, as the intense sunlight over a long period transforms these starch-cells into grape-sugar, storing the vitamins near the skin. All varieties of apples to-day are grafted to a root stock of Northern Spy, which is blightresistant to a high degree. By this process you can get many varieties of pip fruit, such as “eaters,” “cookers,” pears or quinces, but not plums or nectarines, for the law of Nature is "pip to pip and stone to stone.” A pip fruit always has the same number of pips contained in its core, a stone fruit has one stone to each fruit, while a berry has any number of pips, or seeds, scattered through its pulp. By following this botanical rule you will find many familiar fruits miscalled. An orange, for example, is a berry, so are tomatoes, cucumbers and pumpkins; but a blackberry, or that vulgar American fruit, the raspberry, are not really berries at all, but clusters of stone fruit on one stalk! If you find this hard to believe, take one to pieces and see for yourself. Just as its reputation makes it THE apple, its seed is commonly called THE PIP. Apples, true to their destiny, came early to New Zealand. When an old pioneer brought apple and peach seeds to the south he found apples already growing there. Some of these were of great age. Who first sowed apple seeds in this country so that the early settlers might enjoy fresh fruit? Captain Cook? Weakened by the long voyage and lack of vegetables, many pioneers would have perished had it not been for these predestined apples. Granny Smith lived in one of the mining districts of Australia in the early ’eighties, where apples were an unknown luxury. Receiving one, she planted the core, which in time grew into a hardy, prolific bearing, “blightproof” tree, the fruit of which grew greener as it ripened. These apples were good “eaters,” good “cookers” and good “keepers.” Their fame spread rapidly, and Granny Smith, who was of a generous disposition, satisfied many a hungry miner from her orchard. When later grafts were taken to commercialise the strain, it was natural that they should be called after the dear old lady.