The introduction of this word apple in the Bible is attributable to the translators, and some commentators suggest that they have used it in its general sense, and that in the following passages where it occurs, it refers to the citron, orange, or some other subtropical fruit. "Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples."--Songs of Solomon ii, 5. "As the apple-tree (citron) among the trees of the wood, * * * I sat me down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste."--Sol. ii, 2. * * * "I raised thee up under the apple-tree."--Solomon viii, 5. "A word fitly spoken, is like apples of gold in pictures of silver."--Prov. xxv, 11. The botanical position of the cultivated apple may be stated as follows:--Order, _Rosaceæ_; sub-order, _Pomeæ_; or the apple family and genus, _Pyrus_. The species under our consideration is the _Pyrus Malus_, or apple. It has been introduced into this country from Europe, and is now found in a half-wild state, springing up in old fields, hedge-rows, and roadsides; but, even in such situations, by their eatable fruit and broad foliage, and by the absence of spiny or thorny twigs, the trees generally give evidence of a civilized origin. It is not that the plant has changed any of its true specific characters, but that it has been affected by the meliorating influences of culture, which it has not been able entirely to shake off in its neglected condition. Sometimes, indeed, trees are found in these neglected and out-of-the-way situations, which produce fruits of superior quality--and the sorts have been gladly introduced into our nurseries and orchards. Very early in the history of horticulture the apple attracted attention by its improvability, showing that it belonged to the class of culture-plants. Indeed it is a very remarkable fact in the study of botany, and the pivot upon which the science and art of horticulture turns, that while there are plants which show no tendency to change from their normal type, even when brought under the highest culture, and subjected to every treatment which human ingenuity can suggest, there are others which are prone to variations or sports, even in their natural condition, but more so when they are carefully nursed by the prudent farmer or gardener. These may be called respectively the plants of nature and the plants of culture. Some of the former furnish human food, and are otherwise useful to man; but the latter class embraces by far the larger number of food-plants, and we are indebted to this pliancy, aided by human skill, for our varieties of fruits, our esculent vegetables, and the floral ornaments of our gardens.