SCHOOL ESSAYS. ON APPLES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2249, 8 April 1897, Page 51

SCHOOL ESSAYS. ON APPLES.

I.— By G. Wilson. Apples are tho fruit of the appla tree, which grows besfc iv a temperate climate like that of New Zealand or Tasmania. The average height of an apple tree is from 10ft to 14fb. The trees are pruned in the winter time— that is, all the waste wood is oat off and thrown away to make them grow bettor. They blossom in spring, and the iruit is generally ready for ure ebont aufcumu. Sometimes you find different kiuda of apples on the aame tree. This is because it has been grafted. The gardener t akes an appla or a hawthorn root and plants it in his garden. A piece of a good apple tree is cufc off at a joint, and this is' joined on to the root by a piece of eofb clay. After a while the root and the cutting grow together, and now the tree is grafted This ia how the best apple trees are got. A good apple tree that is well looked alter bears & great quantity of fruit every year. Once I saw a full-sized apple inside a narrow-necked bottle, and I was greatly puzzled as to how it gob there. Afterwards I found that the bottle had been pub over the branch of a tree on which was a nowly-fornied apple. The apple grew larger and larger (inside the bottle, of course) till it was full grown. When v ib wan ripe, someone pulled the bottle away fsoni the branch and left the apple inside.

ll.— By G. Robrrtson. Apples are fruit which I have no doubfc all boys and girls take an interest in. I like the cDdlin apple bast. This apple is both larga aud sweet, and almost all the gardeners I kuow have each a specimen of the codlin apple. The average height of an apple tree is Bft or 9ft ; but sometimes it grows to 10ft or lift. My father once gave me a little apple to grow iv my garden. During the holidays I went to take a look at it, but to my dismay I found only a bare little stick. I had not planted ifc properly in the soil, and that was why it died.

KINDERGARTEN FUND. Stamp 3 received : Eva Ormaud, Roxburgh, 6.