[1] It is important to note how the Romans followed up every victory
with a road.
[2] From Beneventum he followed the older line of the Via Appia to
Trevicum; thence, leaving the main road at Aquilonia, he went to
Ausculum ("quod versu dicere non est"), the mod. Ascoli Satriano, by
a by-road, for the milestones which have been found there, though
they probably belong to the Via Traiana, cannot be in their original
position, but must have been transplanted thither (Th. Mommsen in
_Corp. Inscrip. Lat._, ix. 1883, No. 6016)--and on to Herdoniae (why
Mommsen says that he left Herdoniae on the left, _op. cit._ p. 592,
is not clear), where he joined the line of the later Via Traiana.
APPIN, a coast district of Argyllshire, Scotland, bounded W. by Loch
Linnhe, S. by Loch Creran, E. by the districts of Benderloch and Lorne,
and N. by Loch Leven. It lies north-east to south-west, and measures 14
m. in length by 7 m. in breadth. The scenery of the coast is extremely
beautiful, and inland the country is rugged and mountainous. The
principal hills are the double peaks of Ben Vair (3362 ft. and 3284 ft.)
and Creag Ghorm (2372 ft.) in the north, and Fraochie (2883 ft.), Meall
Ban (2148 ft.) and Ben Mhic na Ceisich (2093 ft.) near the right flank
of Glen Creran. The chief streams are the Coe and Laroch, flowing into
Loch Leven, the Duror and Salachan flowing into Loch Linnhe, and the
lola and Creran flowing into Loch Creran. The leading industries
comprise slate and granite quarries and lead mining. Ballachulish,
Duror, Portnacroish, Appin and Port Appin are the principal villages.
Ballachulish and Port Appin are ports of call for steamers, and the
Caledonian railway company's branch line from Connel Ferry to
Ballachulish runs through the coast land and has stations at Creagan,
Appin, Duror, Kentallen and Ballachulish Ferry. Appin was the country of
a branch of the Stewarts.
APPLAUSE (Lat. _applaudere_, to strike upon, clap), primarily the
expression of approval by clapping of hands, &c.; generally any
expression of approval. The custom of applauding is doubtless as old and
as widespread as humanity, and the variety of its forms is limited only
by the capacity for devising means of making a noise. Among civilized
nations, however, it has at various times been subject to certain
conventions. Thus the Romans had a set ritual of applause for public
performances, expressing degrees of approval: snapping the finger and
thumb, clapping with the flat or hollow palm, waving the flap of the
toga, for which last the emperor Aurelian substituted a handkerchief
(_orarium_), distributed to all Roman citizens (see STOLE). In the
theatre, at the close of the play, the chief actor called out "Valete et
plaudite!", and the audience, guided by an unofficial choregus, chaunted
their applause antiphonally. This was often organized and paid for
(Bottiger, _Uber das Applaudieren im Theater bei den Alten_, Leipz.,
1822). When Christianity became fashionable the customs of the theatre
were transferred to the churches. Eusebius (_Hist. Eccl._ vii. 30) says
that Paul of Samosata encouraged the congregation to applaud his
preaching by waving linen cloths ([Greek: othonais]), and in the 4th and
5th centuries applause of the rhetoric of popular preachers had become
an established custom. Though, however, applause may provide a healthy
stimulus, its abuse has led to attempts at abolishing or restricting it
even in theatres. The institution of the _claque_, people hired by
performers to applaud them, has largely discredited the custom, and
indiscriminate applause has been felt as an intolerable interruption to
serious performances. The reverential spirit which abolished applause in
church has tended to spread to the theatre and the concert-room, largely
under the influence of the quasi-religious atmosphere of the Wagner
performances at Baireuth. In Germany (e.g. the court theatres at Berlin)
applause during the performance and "calling before the curtain" have
been officially forbidden, but even in Germany this is felt to be in
advance of public opinion. (See also ACCLAMATION and CHEERING.)
APPLE (a common Teut. word, A.S. _aepl, aeppel_, O.H.G. _aphul, aphal,
apfal_, mod. Ger. _Apfel_), the fruit of _Pyrus Malus_, belonging to the
sub-order _Pomaceae_, of the natural order _Rosaceae_. It is one of the
most widely cultivated and best-known and appreciated of fruits
belonging to temperate climates. In its wild state it is known as the
crab-apple, and is found generally distributed throughout Europe and
western Asia, growing in as high a latitude as Trondhjem in Norway. The
crabs of Siberia belong to different species of _Pyrus_. The apple-tree
as cultivated is a moderate-sized tree with spreading branches, ovate,
acutely serrated or crenated leaves, and flowers in corymbs. The fruit
is too well known to need any description of its external
characteristics. The apple is successfully cultivated in higher
latitudes than any other fruit tree, growing up to 65 deg. N., but
notwithstanding this, its blossoms are more susceptible of injury from
frost than the flowers of the peach or apricot. It comes into flower
much later than these trees, and so avoids the night frost which would
be fatal to its fruit-bearing. The apples which are grown in northern
regions are, however, small, hard, and crabbed, the best fruit being
produced in hot summer climates, such as Canada and the United States.
Besides in Europe and America, the fruit is now cultivated at the Cape
of Good Hope, in northern India and China, and in Australia and New
Zealand.
Apples have been cultivated in Great Britain probably since the period
of the Roman occupation, but the names of many varieties indicate a
French or Dutch origin of much later date. In 1688 Ray enumerated
seventy-eight varieties in cultivation in the neighbourhood of London,
and now it is calculated that about 2000 kinds can be distinguished.
According to the purposes for which they are suitable, they can be
classed as--1st, dessert; 2nd, culinary; and 3rd, cider apples. The
principal dessert apples are the Pippins (_pepins_, seedlings), of which
there are numerous varieties. As culinary apples, besides Rennets and
other dessert kinds, Codlins and Biffins are cultivated. In England,
Herefordshire and Devonshire are famous for the cultivation of apples,
and in these counties the manufacture of cider (q.v.) is an important
industry. Cider is also extensively prepared in Normandy and in Holland.
Verjuice is the fermented juice of crab apples.
A large trade in the importation of apples is carried on in Britain,
imports coming chiefly from French, Belgian and Dutch growers, and from
the United States and British North America. Dried and pressed apples
are imported from France for stewing, under the name of Normandy
Pippins, and similarly prepared fruits come also from America.
The apple may be propagated by seeds to obtain stocks for grafting, and
also for the production of new varieties. The established sorts are
usually increased by grafting, the method called whip-grafting being
preferred. The stocks should be at least as thick as the finger; and
should be headed back to where the graft is to be fixed in January,
unless the weather is frosty, but in any case before vegetation becomes
active. The scions should be cut about the same time, and laid in firmly
in a trench, in contact with the moist soil, until required.
The tree will thrive in any good well-drained soil, the best being a
good mellow calcareous loam, while the less iron there is in the subsoil
the better. The addition of marl to soils that are not naturally
calcareous very much improves them. The trees are liable to canker in
undrained soils or those of a hot sandy nature. Where the soil is not
naturally rich enough, it should be well manured, but not to the extent
of encouraging over-luxuriance. It is better to apply manure in the form
of a compost than to use it in a fresh state or unmixed.
To form an orchard, standard trees should be planted at from 25 to 40
ft. between the rows, according to the fertility of the soil and other
considerations. The trees should be selected with clean, straight,
self-supporting stems, and the head should be shapely and symmetrical,
with the main branches well balanced. In order to obtain such a stem,
all the leaves on the first shoot from the graft or bud should be
encouraged to grow, and in the second season the terminal bud should be
allowed to develop a further leading shoot, while the lateral shoots
should be allowed to grow, but so that they do not compete with the
leader, on which the growth of leaves should be encouraged in order that
they may give additional strength to the stem below them. The side
shoots should be removed gradually, so that the diminution of foliage in
this direction may not exceed the increase made by the new branches and
shoots of the upper portion. Dwarf pyramids, which occupy less space
than open dwarfs, if not allowed to grow tall, may be planted at from 10
to 12 ft. apart. Dwarf bush trees may be planted from 10 to 15 ft.
apart, according to the variety and the soil. Dwarf bushes on the
Paradise stock are both ornamental and useful in small gardens, the
trees being always conveniently under control. These bush trees, which
must be on the proper stock--the French Paradise--may be planted at
first 6 ft. apart, with the same distance between the rows, the space
being afterwards increased, if desired, to 12 ft. apart, by removing
every alternate row.
"Cordons" are trees trained to a single shoot, the laterals of which are
kept spurred. They are usually trained horizontally, at about 1-1/2 ft.
from the ground, and may consist of one stem or of two, the stems in the
latter case being trained in opposite directions. In cold districts the
finer sorts of apples may be grown against walls as upright or oblique
cordons. From these cordon trees very fine fruit may often be obtained.
The apple may also be grown as an espalier tree, a form which does not
require much lateral space. The ordinary trained trees for espaliers and
walls should be planted 20 ft. apart.
The fruit of the apple is produced on spurs which form on the branchlets
of two years old and upwards, and continue fertile for a series of
years. The principal pruning should be performed in summer, the young
shoots if crowded being thinned out, and the superabundant laterals
shortened by breaking them half through. The general winter pruning of
the trees may take place any time from the beginning of November to the
beginning of March, in open weather. The trees are rather subject to the
attacks of the American blight, the white cottony substance found on the
bark and developed by an insect (_Eriosoma, mali_), somewhat similar to
the green-fly of the garden, but not a true aphis. It may be removed by
scrubbing with a hard brush, by painting the affected spots with any
bland oil, or by washing them with dilute paraffin and soft soap.
The apple-blossom weevil (_Anthonomus pomorum_), a small reddish-brown
beetle, often causes serious damage to the flowers. The female bores and
lays an egg in the unopened bud, and the maggot feeds on the stamens and
pistil. The weevil hibernates in the crannies of the bark or in the soil
at the base of the trees, and bandages of tarred doth placed round the
stem in spring will prevent the female from crawling up.
The codlin moth (_Carpocapsa pomonana_) lays its eggs in May in the
calyx of the flowers. The young caterpillar, which is white with black
head and neck, gnaws its way through the fruit, and pierces the rind.
When nearly full grown it attacks the core, and the fruit soon drops.
The insect emerges and spins its cocoon in a crack of the bark.
To check this disease the apples which fall before ripening should be
promptly removed. A loosely made hay-band twisted round the stem about a
foot from the ground is of use. The grubs will generally choose the
bands in which to make their cocoon; at the end of the season the bands
are collected and burned.
The following are a few of the most approved varieties of the apple
tree, arranged in order of their ripening, with the months in which they
are in use:--
Dessert Apples.
White Juneating. . . . . . . . . . July
Early Red Margaret. . . . . . . . . Aug.
Irish Peach . . . . . . . . . . . Aug.
Devonshire Quarrenden. . . . . . . . Aug., Sept.
Duchess of Oldenburg . . . . . . . . Aug., Sept.
Red Astrachan . . . . . . . . . . Sept.
Kerry Pippin. . . . . . . . . . . Sept., Oct.
Peasgood's Nonesuch . . . . . . . . Sept.-Nov.
Sam Young. . . . . . . . . . . . Oct.-Dec.
King of the Pippins . . . . . . . . Oct.-Jan.
Cox's Orange Pippin . . . . . . . . Oct.-Feb.
Court of Wick . . . . . . . . . . Oct.-Mar.
Blenheim Pippin. . . . . . . . . . Nov.-Feb.
Sykehouse Russet . . . . . . . . . Nov.-Feb.
Fearn's Pippin . . . . . . . . . . Nov.-Mar.
Mannington's Pearmain. . . . . . . . Nov.-Mar.
Margil. . . . . . . . . . . . . Nov.-Mar.
Ribston Pippin . . . . . . . . . . Nov.-Mar.
Golden Pippin . . . . . . . . . . Nov.-Jan.
Reinette de Canada. . . . . . . . . Nov.-Apr.
Ashmead's Kernel . . . . . . . . . Nov.-Apr.
White Winter Calville (grown under glass) . Dec.-Mar.
Braddick's Nonpareil . . . . . . . . Dec.-Apr.
Court-pendu Plat . . . . . . . . . Dec.-Apr.
Northern Spy. . . . . . . . . . . Dec.-May
Cornish Gilliflower . . . . . . . . Dec.-May
Scarlet Nonpareil . . . . . . . . . Jan.-Mar.
Cockle's Pippin. . . . . . . . . . Jan.-Apr.
Lamb Abbey Pearmain . . . . . . . . Jan.-May
Old Nonpareil . . . . . . . . . . Jan.-May
Duke of Devonshire. . . . . . . . . Feb.-May
Sturmer Pippin . . . . . . . . . . Feb.-June
Kitchen Apples.
Keswick Codlin . . . . . . . . . . Aug.-Sept.
Lord Suffield . . . . . . . . . . Aug.-Sept.
Manks Codlin. . . . . . . . . . . Aug.-Oct.
Ecklinville Seedling . . . . . . . . Aug.-Nov.
Stirling Castle. . . . . . . . . . Aug.-Nov.
New Hawthornden. . . . . . . . . . Sept.-Oct.
Stone's Seedling . . . . . . . . . Sept.-Nov.
Emperor Alexander . . . . . . . . . Sept.-Dec.
Waltham Abbey Seedling . . . . . . . Sept.-Jan.
Cellini . . . . . . . . . . . . Oct., Nov.
Gravenstein . . . . . . . . . . . Oct.-Dec.
Hawthornden . . . . . . . . . . . Oct.-Dec.
Baumann's Red Winter Reinette . . . . . Nov.-Mar.
Mere de Menage . . . . . . . . . . Oct.-Mar.
Beauty of Kent . . . . . . . . . . Oct.-Feb.
Yorkshire Greening. . . . . . . . . Oct.-Feb.
Gloria Mundi. . . . . . . . . . . Nov.-Jan.
Blenheim Pippin. . . . . . . . . . Nov.-Feb.
Tower of Glammis . . . . . . . . . Nov.-Feb.
Warner's King . . . . . . . . . . Nov.-Mar.
Alfriston. . . . . . . . . . . . Nov.-Apr.
Northern Greening . . . . . . . . . Nov.-Apr.
Reinette de Canada. . . . . . . . . Nov.-Apr.
Bess Pool. . . . . . . . . . . . Nov.-May
Winter Queening. . . . . . . . . . Nov.-May
Lane's Prince Albert . . . . . . . . Oct.-May
Norfolk Beaufin. . . . . . . . . . Nov.-July
Apples for table use should have a sweet juicy pulp and rich aromatic
flavour, while those suitable for cooking should possess the property of
forming a uniform soft pulpy mass when boiled or baked. In their
uncooked state they are not very digestible, but when cooked they form a
very safe and useful food, exercising a gentle laxative influence.