The first thing to say about apple trees is that they’re not from around here.
Seeds were first brought over from the “old world” in the early 1600s when European settlers began setting-up shop in the Americas. From the east coast, the apple tree made its way west in the 1800s. Western New York, Michigan, and now, Washington became the U.S.'s largest apple producer. From there, the apple even hopped the vast Pacific Ocean to Japan (Fuji apple), Australia (Granny Smith) and New Zealand (Gala apple) were born from European/American apple lineage.
But the apple isn’t from Europe either, although genetically, Malus Domestica (the scientific name for the common eating apple) does have some European crabapple in it. The "domesticated apple" is thought to descend predominantly from Malus Sieversii, the baseball-sized apple still growing wild in Central Asia. It was by way of ancient trade routes, such as the Silk Road, that Sieversii genes spread east to west, all way between China to Portugal. Western Europeans brought it further west, across the Atlantic, and then it even hopped the vast Pacific Ocean to Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, where the likes of the Fuji apple, Granny Smith, and Gala (respectively) were born from European and/or American apple lineage.
So right off the bat, we are talking about a successful globe trotter, which is important to remember about apples. Malus Domestica has thrived under modern transportation, and it now grows as far north as Alaska and Iceland, as far south as Patagonia and South Africa, and it succeeds anywhere there's cool temperatures for a few nights each year. In fact, apple trees exist in parts of Florida, Thailand and even Bermuda! But the MOST important thing to say about apples is that they're extreme heterozygotes. The reason why Malus has succeeded throughout the planet has to ALL do with this very unique genetic talent.
Being an extreme heterozygote, the apple tree will never grow true to its seed, just like a human, which has half the number of genes of Malus Domestica. The point of this massive DNA bank is to form new combinations which are designed to test compatibility with different climates and terrains. They also possess an intelligence that allows them to acclimate and adapt to real-time environmental changes. Proof of this is evident in their biennial fruiting pattern. Ferral Malus Domestica, and even MANipulated orchard trees have the ability to read the ecosystem and participate in forest-wide mast years (sometimes known as "bumper crops.") Epigeneticists, the scientists who study adaptive genetics, are only now scratching the surface of Malus Domestica and discovering what the ancients have always know: This is the tree of wisdom.
"But humans are intelligent too," you say. Well, that may be true but take a closer look at Malus and you'll discover that the genus possesses an intelligence that Homo Sapien do not (not modern, "Western" Man, at least.) For one, they always blend in with environments as they travel the world. They read the pre-existing cultures and know how to co-exist in peace (they participate, not destroy.) We, on the other hand, compete with "what is" and then we out-muscle the other species. We even eradicate other human cultures if they threaten to live in harmony with the landscape! If feeling at peace with the planet is more intelligent than feeling against it, than apples are wiser.
This is where apple 101 suddenly becomes apple 401, when we reflect on our shortcomings and realize Malus Domestica has succeeded where we have not. Our intelligence, for instance, is in our brain, in our concepts not our being, ruling us to MANdate the environment (dictate how it's "supposed to be".) If you think science is intelligent, guess again. Our MANipulation of the planet has only accellerated and we're constantly re-upping our MANdate to steward the land. We assume we know what's best.
This vision, this concept, we predominantly realize in the form of agriculture, the 12,000-year-old occupation serving Man's relatively sudden population growth and non-nomadic civilizations. In fact, we call it cultivation, not MANipulation, to suggest actual culturing, but the latter best fits the act of unilaterally altering the environment with only our species in mind. At its worst, agriculture has looked like all-out war with the larger cultures of this planet (the clear-cutting of the Amazon, the American Dust Bowl, and mass extinctions, discarded like mutilated roadkill in our wake, for instance); While at our best, we try to "cultivate" a mutually beneficial ecosystem.
We know now (or some of us do) that we can't go on bullying the planet with the trajectory of the Western agrarian concept. We are not spiritually or philosophically "other" than this planet, and to continue to uphold that biblical destination is, at this point, clearly suicidal. Instead, some people are reevaluating what cultivation means (a word with deep anthropocentrism in its etymology) and learning of other versions of success/ larger success. Apple trees represent one such version. The tree of wisdom might one day teach us of a more intelligent harmony.
[This is only the beginning of an essay, btw (the "abstract", if you will.) The rest can be found in tattered pieces on my computer. Maybe it's better off left there.]
*We had to give Malus "Domestica" an anthropocentric name, of course. The tree is actually not tamed or domesticated, though most individual trees are subjected to extreme servitude. Built within its seed, however, is a thoroughly exploratory, thoroughly un-domesticated species, that, given the opportunity, will succeed behind Man's back.
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