ee with slender weeping branches,
clothed with small almost myrtle-like foliage." There is also a
peach-leaved variety.

Sageret describes a remarkable variety, _le griottier de la Toussaint_,
which bears at the same time, even as late as September, flowers and
fruit of all degrees of maturity. The fruit, which is of inferior
quality, is borne on long, very thin footstalks. But the extraordinary
statement is made that all the leaf-bearing shoots spring from old
flower-buds. Lastly, there is an important physiological distinction
between those kinds of cherries which bear fruit on young or on old
wood; but Sageret positively asserts that a Bigarreau in his garden
bore fruit on wood of both ages.[696]

_Apple (Pyrus malus)._--The one source of doubt felt by botanists with
respect to the parentage of the apple is whether, besides _P. malus_,
two or three other closely allied wild forms, namely, _P. acerba_ and
_praecox_ or _paradisiaca_, do not deserve to be ranked as distinct
species. The _P. praecox_ is supposed by some authors[697] to be the
parent of the dwarf paradise stock, which, owing to the fibrous roots
not penetrating deeply into the ground, is so largely used for
grafting; but the paradise stock, it is asserted,[698] cannot be
propagated true by seed. The common wild crab varies considerably in
England; but many of the varieties are believed to be escaped
seedlings.[699] Every one knows the great difference in the manner of
growth, in the foliage, flowers, and especially in the fruit, between
the almost innumerable varieties of the apple. The pips or seeds (as I
know by comparison) likewise differ considerably in shape, size, and
colour. The fruit is adapted for eating or for cooking in different
ways, and keeps for only a few weeks or for nearly two years. Some few
kinds have the fruit covered with a powdery secretion, called bloom,
like that on plums; {349} and "it is extremely remarkable that this
occurs almost exclusively among varieties cultivated in Russia."[700]
Another Russian apple, the white Astracan, possesses the singular
property of becoming transparent, when ripe, like some sorts of crabs.
The _api etoile_ has five prominent ridges, hence its name; the _api
noir_ is nearly black: the _twin cluster pippin_ often bears fruit
joined in pairs.[701] The trees of th