Niagara Falls

The Spanish Aerocar, built in 1916 from a design by Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres y Quevedo, is a cable car which takes passengers over the whirlpool on the Canadian side, below the Falls. As wages increased, the quantity of apples was toned down to a single fruit. The Maid of the Mist cruises, named for an ancient Ongiara Indian mythical character, have carried passengers into the whirlpools beneath the Falls since 1846. As apples were a very common crop, teachers would often be given baskets of apples by students. Along the Niagara River, the Niagara River Recreational Trail runs the 56 km (35 miles) from Fort Erie to Fort George, and includes many historical sites from the War of 1812. This stemmed from the fact that teachers during the 16th to 18th centuries were poorly paid, so parents would compensate the teacher by providing food. The observation deck of the nearby Skylon Tower offers the highest overhead view of the Falls, and in the opposite direction gives views as far as distant Toronto.⁶ With the Konica Minolta Tower, it is one of two towers in Canada with a view of the Falls. In the United States, Denmark and Sweden, an apple (polished) is a traditional gift for a teacher.

On the Canadian side, Queen Victoria Park features manicured gardens, platforms offering spectacular views of both the American and Horseshoe Falls, and underground walkways leading into observation rooms which yield the illusion of being within the falling waters. Apples are said to increase a woman's chances of conception as well as remove birthmarks when rubbed on the skin. The Niagara Scenic Trolley offers guided trips along the American Falls. In some places, bobbing for apples is a traditional Halloween activity. Nearby, the Cave of the Winds trail leads hikers down some three hundred steps to a point beneath Bridal Veil Falls. Danish folklore says that apples wither around adulterers. From the American side, the American Falls can be viewed from walkways along Prospect Park, which also features an observation tower. Irish folklore claims that if an apple is peeled into one continuous ribbon and thrown behind a woman's shoulder, it will land in the shape of the future husband's initials.

From the Canadian side, floodlights illuminate both sides of the Falls for several hours after dark (until midnight). Swiss folklore holds that William Tell courageously shot an apple from his son's head with his crossbow, defying a tyrannical ruler and bringing freedom to his people. Peak numbers of visitors occur in the summertime, when Niagara Falls are both a daytime and evening attraction. Apple Computer and Apple records have also adopted the apple for their companies. On August 4, 2005, professional golfer John Daly attempted to drive a golf ball over Niagara Falls, an approximate distance of 362 yards (331 m), falling just short in 20 attempts. Its logo represents an apple in the constructivist style. With the recent influx of more international tourists, annual visits exceeded 14 million in 2003. The name of the Russian party Yabloko means "apple".

The Falls, or more particularly, the tourist-supported complex near the Falls, was the setting of the short-lived American television show Wonderfalls in early 2004. The apple blossom is the state flower of Arkansas and Michigan. Much of the episode Return of the Technodrome in the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series take place near the Niagara Falls and its hydroelectric plant. The ancient Kazakh city of Almaty, 'Father of Apples' (Turkic language alma, apple, + ata, father), owes its name to the forests of wild apples (Malus sieversii) found naturally in the area. Later in the 20th century, the Falls was a featured location in 1980's movie Superman II, and was itself the subject of a popular IMAX movie. Later, the princess is jostled into coughing up the piece, miraculously returning to life. Already a huge tourist attraction and favorite spot for honeymooners, Niagara Falls visits rose sharply in 1953 after the release of Niagara, a movie starring Marilyn Monroe. In the European fairy tale Snow White, the titular princess is killed by choking on an apple given to her by her stepmother.

All survivors and stunters have passed over the Horseshoe Falls, where there are fewer boulders and the current can "throw" a person farther away from the brink and (hopefully) avoid the boulders. According to a popular legend, Isaac Newton, upon witnessing an apple fall from its tree, was inspired to conclude that a similar 'universal gravitation' attracted the moon toward the Earth as well (this legend is discussed in more detail in the article on Isaac Newton). No human has ever survived a plunge over the American Falls, due to the many boulders and the relatively weak current. It is often an attribute associated with Venus who is shown holding it. While it is still not known whether Jones was determined to commit suicide, he survived the 16-story fall with only battered ribs, scrapes, and bruises. Thus, secular art as well made use of the apple as symbol of love and sexuality. Kirk Jones became the first person to plunge over the Horseshoe Falls without a flotation device on October 20, 2003. At times artists would co-opt the apple, as well as other religious symbology, whether for ironic effect or as a stock element of symbolic vocabulary.

His survival, which no one thought possible, made news throughout the world. Another instance in Roman and Greek mythology is the story of the Pleiades. Roger was plucked from the roiling plunge pool beneath the Horseshoe Falls after grabbing a life ring thrown to him by the crew of the Maid of the Mist boat. In ancient Greece, throwing an apple at a person's bed was an invitation for sexual intercourse. In what some called the "Miracle at Niagara", Roger Woodward, a seven-year-old American boy, was swept over the Horseshoe Falls protected only by a life vest in July, 1960, as two tourists pulled his 17-year-old sister Deanne from the river at the lip of the American Falls. Atalanta, also of Greek mythology, was distracted during a race by three golden apples thrown for that purpose by a suitor, Hippomenes. Englishman Captain Matthew Webb, the first man to swim the English Channel, drowned in 1883 after unsuccessfully trying to swim across the whirlpools and rapids downriver from the Falls. Another Greek mythological figure, Paris, had to give a golden apple inscribed Kallisti "To the most beautiful one", (which had come from the goddess of discord, Eris) to the most beautiful goddess, thus indirectly causing the Trojan War.

Their wires ran across the gorge, near the current Rainbow Bridge, not over the waterfall itself. In the Old Testament the apple was significant of the fall of man; in the New Testament it is an emblem of the redemption from that fall, and as such is also represented in pictures of the Madonna and Infant Jesus. Starting with the successful passage by Jean François "Blondin" Gravelet in 1859, tightrope walkers have drawn large crowds to their exploits. This also reflects the evolution of the symbol in religion. Other daredevils have made crossing the Falls their goal. When held in Adam's hand, the apple symbolises sin. Magician David Copperfield more recently added his name to the list of these daredevils, successfully travelling (or perhaps, appearing to travel) over the Falls in 1990. When Christ is portrayed holding an apple, he represents the Second Adam who brings life.

Survivors of such stunts face charges and stiff fines, as it is illegal, on both sides of the border, to attempt to go over the Falls. It is often used to symbolise the fall into sin, or sin itself. Some have survived unharmed, but others have drowned or been severely injured. Another reason for the adoption of the apple as Christian symbol is that in Latin, the words for "apple" and for "evil" are identical (malum). Since Taylor's historic ride, 14 other people have intentionally gone over the Falls in or on a device. Celtic mythology includes a story about Conle who receives an apple which feeds him for a year but also makes him irresistibly desire fairyland. In 1901, 63-year-old Annie Edson Taylor was the first person to go over the Falls in a barrel; she survived virtually unharmed. The larynx in the human throat has been called Adam's apple because of a notion that it was caused by the forbidden fruit sticking in the throat of Adam.

This began a long tradition of daredevils trying to go over the Falls and survive. This tradition was reflected in artistic renderings of the fall from Eden. In October 1829, Sam Patch, who called himself The Yankee Leaper, jumped over the Horseshoe Falls and became the first known person to survive the plunge. The influence of the antiquity was still strong, and the pagan symbology was absorbed into the new religion. It will be very difficult to solve the problem. Though the forbidden fruit in that account is not identified, popular European Christian tradition has held that it was an apple that Eve incited Adam to share with her. The result is that the viewing areas on the Canadian side are now often obscured by a layer of mist from the falls. This tradition is also reflected in the book of Genesis.

Students at the University of Guelph demonstrated, using scale models, that the air passes overtop of the new hotels, which causes a breeze to roll forward down the south sides of the buildings and spill down into the gorge under the falls, where it feeds into a whirlpool of moisture and air. The 'fruit-bearing tree' referred to by Tacitus in his description of Norse runic divination may have been the apple, or the rowan. Recent construction of several tall buildings (most of them hotels) on the Canadian side of the falls has caused the airflow over the falls to change direction. In Norse mythology, Iðunn was the keeper of the 'apples of immortality' which kept the Gods young. Even after this undertaking, Luna Island, the small piece of land between the main waterfall and the Bridal Veil, remained off limits to the public for years owing to fears that it was unstable and could collapse into the gorge at any time. One of the Greek hero Heracles' Twelve Labours was to travel to the Garden of the Hesperides and pick the golden apples off the Tree of Life growing at its center. A plan to remove the huge mound of talus deposited in 1954 was abandoned owing to cost, and in November 1969, the temporary dam was dynamited, restoring flow to the American Falls. Apples appear in many religious traditions, often as a mystical and forbidden fruit.

In June of that year, the Niagara River was completely diverted away from the American Falls for several months through the building of a temporary rock and earth dam (clearly visible in the photo at right), effectively shutting off the American Falls.⁵ While the Horseshoe Falls absorbed the extra flow, the US Army Corps of Engineers studied the riverbed and mechanically bolted faults which would otherwise have hastened the retreat of the American Falls. A derivative of apple curd, apple milk is widely used throughout Tibet. The most dramatic such work was performed in 1969. Apples are historically known for producing "apple milk". In addition to the effects of diversion of water to the power stations, erosion control efforts have included underwater weirs to redirect the most damaging currents, and actual mechanical strengthening of the top of the Falls. The predominant phenolic phytochemicals in apples are quercetin, epicatechin, and procyanidin B2 (PMID 14558772). In 1950, the two countries signed the Niagara River Water Diversion Treaty, which more specifically addressed the issue of water diversion. Lee said that all apples are high in the critical phytonutrients and that the amount of phenolic compounds in the apple flesh and in the skin vary from year to year, season to season and from growing region to growing region (November/December 2004 issue of the Journal of Food Science).

On January 2, 1929 Canada and the United States reached an agreement on an action plan to preserve the Falls. The researchers used red delicious apples grown in New York state to provide the extracts to study the effects of phytochemicals. This process was slowed initially by diversion of increasing amounts of flow from the Niagara River into hydroelectric plants in both the United States and Canada. "Cy" Lee of Cornell University found that the apple phenolics, which are naturally occurring antioxidants found in fresh apples, can protect nerve cells from neurotoxicity induced by oxidative stress. Until the modern era, the Falls were receding southward owing to erosion from two to ten feet (0.6 to 3.0 m) per year. Chang Y. On the Canadian side, the Niagara Parks Commission governs land usage along the entire course of the Niagara River, from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. A group of chemicals in apples could protect the brain from the type of damage that triggers such neurodegenerative diseases as Alzheimer's and Parkinsonism.

Both organizations have proved remarkably successful operations that have restricted development on both sides of the Falls and the Niagara River. They may also help with heart disease, weight loss and controlling cholesterol. In the same year, Ontario established the Queen Victoria Niagara Falls Park for the same purpose. Research suggests that apples may reduce the risk of colon cancer, prostate cancer and lung cancer. In 1885, New York state to begin to purchase land from developers, under the charter of the Niagara Reservation State Park. Apples have long been considered healthy, as indicated by the proverb an apple a day keeps the doctor away. A series of Harrison's letters to newspapers in Boston and New York (collected in the 1882 pamphlet The Condition of Niagara Falls, and the Measures Needed to Preserve Them) were particularly influential in turning public opinion in favor of preservation [3]. Apples are eaten with honey at the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah to symbolise a sweet new year.

Public dissatisfaction led to the Free Niagara movement, which included the artist Frederick Church, the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, and the journalist Jonathan Baxter Harrison. Similar treats in the US are candy apples (coated in a hard shell of crystallised sugar syrup), and caramel apples, coated with cooled caramel. Development and commercial ventures threatened the natural beauty of the area, and visitors sometimes had to pay entrepreneurs a fee to view the Falls through holes in a fence. In the UK, a toffee apple is a traditional confection made by coating an apple in hot toffee and allowing it to cool. For the first two centuries after European settlement of the area, land on both sides of Niagara Falls was privately owned. They are also used cooked in meat dishes. Nearby Niagara Falls International Airport and Buffalo Niagara International Airport were named after the waterfall, as were Niagara University, countless local businesses, and even one celestial body.⁴. Apples are also made into apple butter and apple jelly.

The twin cities of Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York are connected by three bridges, including the Rainbow Bridge, just downriver from the Falls, which affords the closest view of the Falls, the Whirpool Bridge, and the newest bridge, the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, located near the escarpment. Puréed apples are generally known as apple sauce. Since then the region has declined economically. They are often eaten baked or stewed, and they can also be dried and eaten or re-consitituted (soaked in water, alcohol or some other liquid) for later use. While the seaway diverted water traffic from nearby Buffalo and led to the demise of its steel and grain mills, other industries in the Niagara River valley flourished until the 1970s with the help of the electric power produced by the river. Apples are an important ingredient in many winter desserts, for example apple pie, apple crumble, apple crisp and apple cake. Ships can bypass Niagara Falls by means of the Welland Canal, which in the 1960s was improved and incorporated into the Saint Lawrence Seaway. They make a popular lunchbox fruit as well.

The project is expected to be completed in 2009, and will increase Sir Adam Beck's yearly output by about 1.6 TW·h. Apple wine can also be made. In August 2005, Ontario Power Generation, which is now responsible for the Sir Adam Beck stations, announced plans to build a new 10.4 km tunnel to tap water from farther up the Niagara river than is possible with the existing arrangement. Distilled apple cider produces the spirits applejack and Calvados. All together, Niagara's generating stations can produce about 4.4 GW of power. Apples can be canned, juiced, and optionally fermented to produce apple juice, cider, vinegar, and pectin. The most powerful hydroelectric stations on the Niagara River are Sir Adam Beck 1 and 2 on the Canadian side, and the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant and the Lewiston Pump Generating Plant on the American side. Imported apples from New Zealand and other more temperate areas are competing with US production and increasing each year.

The water then passes through hydroelectric turbines that supply power to nearby areas of the United States and Canada before returning to the river well past the Falls. In the United States, more than 60% of all the apples sold commercially are grown in Washington state. Currently between 50% and 75% of the Niagara River's flow is diverted via four huge tunnels that arise far upstream from the waterfalls. France, Italy, South Africa and Chile are among the leading apple exporters. The Government of Ontario eventually brought power transmission operations under public control in 1906, distributing Niagara's energy to various parts of that province. Turkey is also a leading producer. Private companies on the Canadian side also began to harness the energy of the Falls, employing both domestic and American firms in their efforts. The United States is the third leading producer, accounting for 7.5% of world production.

Morgan, John Jacob Astor IV, and the Vanderbilts, they had constructed giant underground conduits leading to turbines generating upwards of 100,000 horsepower (75 MW), and were sending power as far as Buffalo, twenty miles (32 km) away. Argentina is the second leading producer, with more than 15% of the world production. By 1896, with financing from moguls like J.P. China produced almost half of this total. In 1883, the Niagara Falls Power Company, a descendant of Schoellkopf's firm, hired George Westinghouse to design a system to generate alternating current. 45 million metric tons of apples were grown worldwide in 2002, with a value of about 10 billion USD. When Nikola Tesla, for whom a memorial was later built at Niagara Falls, invented the three-phase system of alternating current power transmission, distant transfer of electricity became possible. Cultivars vary in their yield and the ultimate size of the tree, even when grown on the same rootstock.

In 1881, under the leadership of Jacob Schoellkopf, enough power was produced to send direct current to illuminate both the Falls themselves and nearby Niagara Falls village. Dwarf trees will bear about 50-100 kg (3-5 bushels) of fruit per year. In 1853, the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Mining Company was chartered, which eventually constructed the canals which would be used to generate electricity. A few cultivars, left unpruned, will grow to be extremely large, causing them to bear a great deal of fruit that is difficult to harvest. Augustus and Peter Porter purchased this area and all of American Falls in 1805 from the New York state government, and enlarged the original canal to provide hydraulic power for their gristmill and tannery. Apples are harvested using three-point ladders that are designed to fit amongst the branches. The first known effort to harness the waters was in 1759, when Daniel Joncairs built a small canal above the Falls to power his sawmill. Mature trees typically bear 100-200 kg (5-10 bushels) of apples each year.

The enormous energy of the Falls was long recognized as a potential source of power. The latest tool in the organic repertoire is to spray a light coating of kaolin clay, which forms a physical barrier to some pests, and also helps prevent apple sun scald. The story of Niagara Falls in the 20th century is largely that of efforts to harness the energy of the Falls for hydroelectric power and to control the rampant development on both the American and Canadian sides which threatened the area's natural beauty. Apples are difficult to grow organically, though a few orchards have done so with commercial success, using disease-resistant cultivars and the very best cultural controls. Especially after World War One, tourism boomed again as automobiles made getting to the Falls much easier. For other Lepidoptera larvae which feed on apple trees, see List of Lepidoptera which feed on Malus. In 1941 the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission completed the third current crossing in the immediate area of Niagara Falls with the Rainbow Bridge, carrying both pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Others include Apple maggot and codling moth.

just below the Falls. The plum curculio is the most serious insect pest. Known today as the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge, it carries vehicles, trains, and pedestrians between Canada and the U.S. Among the most serious disease problems are fireblight, a bacterial disease; and Gymnosporangium rust, apple scab, and black spot, three fungal diseases. The first steel archway bridge near the Falls was completed in 1897. White clover is a component of many grass seed mixes, and many bees are poisoned by insecticides while visiting the flowers on the orchard floor. In 1886 Leffert Buck replaced Roebling's wood and stone bridge with the predominantly steel bridge that still carries trains over the Niagara River today. Nor should bee-attractive plants be allowed to establish in the orchard floor if insecticides are used.

This was supplanted by German-American John Augustus Roebling's Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge in 1855. Spraying for insect pests must never be done during flowering because it kills pollinators. Demand for passage over the Niagara River led in 1848 to the building of a footbridge and then Charles Ellet's Niagara Suspension Bridge. A trend in orchard management is the use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which reduces needless spraying when pests are not present, or more likely, are being controlled by natural predators. Napoleon's brother visited with his bride in the early 19th century. Nearly all commercial orchards pursue an aggressive program of chemical sprays to maintain high fruit quality, tree health, and high yields. During the 19th century tourism became popular, and it was the area's main industry by mid-century. The trees are susceptible to a number of fungal and bacterial diseases and insect pests.

Hennepin County in Minnesota was named after Father Louis Hennepin. Good thinning helps even out the cycle, so that a reasonable crop can be grown every year. His subsequently discredited claim that he also traveled the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico cast some doubt on the validity of his writings and sketches of Niagara Falls. If the fruit is not thinned when the tree carries a large crop, it may produce very little flower the following year. Hennepin also first described the Saint Anthony Falls in Minnesota. Apples are prone to biennial bearing. Some credit Finnish-Swedish naturalist Pehr Kalm with the original first-hand description, penned during an expedition to the area early in the 18th century.³ Most historians however agree that Father Louis Hennepin observed and described the Falls much earlier, in 1677, after traveling in the region with explorer René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, thus bringing them to the world's attention. Apples (or any fruit) planted on a south facing slope in the northern hemisphere (or north facing in the southern hemisphere), will flower early and be particularly vulnerable to spring frost.

Members of his party reported to him on the spectacular waterfalls, which he wrote of in his journals but may never have actually visited. Home growers may not have a body of water to help, but can utilise north slopes or other geographical features to retard spring flowering. The area was visited by Samuel de Champlain as early as 1604. Areas of the USA, such as the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, the southern shore of Lake Ontario, and around some smaller lakes, where this cooling effect of water, combined with good, well-drained soils, has made apple growing concentrations possible in these areas. Some controversy exists over which European first gave a written, eyewitness description of the Falls. Growing apples near a body of water gives an advantage by slowing spring warm up, which retards flowering until frost is less likely. He-No caught her as she plummeted, and together their spirits are said to live forever in the Thunder God's sanctuary behind the Falls. If the pistil has turned black, the flower is ruined and will not produce fruit.

She paddled her canoe into the swift current of the Niagara River and was swept over the brink. Frost damage can be evaluated 24 hours after the frost. Rather than marry, Lelawala chose to sacrifice herself to her true love He-No, the Thunder God, who dwelled in a cave behind the Horseshoe Falls. If the frost is not too severe, the tree can be wetted with water spray before the morning sun hits the flowers, and it may save them. Native American legend tells of Lelawala, a beautiful maid betrothed by her father to a brave she despised. It is best to plant apples on a slope for air drainage, but not on a south facing slope (in the northern hemisphere) as this will encourage early flowering and increase susceptibility to frost. The name "Niagara" is said to originate from an Iroquois word "Onguiaahra" meaning "The Strait." The region's original inhabitants were the Ongiara, an Iroquois tribe named the Neutrals by French settlers, who found them helpful in mediating disputes with other tribes. A common problem is a late frost that destroys the delicate outer structures of the flower.

This volume is further halved at night, when most of the diversion to hydroelectric facilities occur. It generally requires multiple bee visits to deliver sufficient grains of pollen to accomplish complete pollination. The volume of water approaching the Falls during peak flow season is 202,000 ft³/s (5,720 m³/s).¹,² During the summer months, when maximum diversion of water for hydroelectric power occurs, 100,000 ft³/s (2,832 m³/s) of water actually traverses the Falls, some 90% of which goes over the Horseshoe Falls. Inadequate pollination can result from either a lack of pollinators or pollenizers, or from poor pollinating weather at flowering time. The larger Canadian Falls are about 2,600 feet (792 m) wide, while the American Falls are 1,060 feet (323 m) wide. Apples having less than 3 seeds will usually not mature and will drop from the trees in the early summer. The Falls drop about 170 feet (52 m), although the American Falls have a clear drop of only 70 feet (21 m) before reaching a jumble of fallen rocks which were deposited by a massive rock slide in 1954. Well pollinated apples are the best quality, and will have 7 to 10 seeds.

Engineers are working to reduce the rate of erosion to retard this event as long as possible. Symptoms of inadequate pollination are small and misshapen apples, slowness to ripen, and low seed count. Although erosion and recession have been slowed in this century by engineering, the falls will eventually recede far enough to drain most of Lake Erie, the bottom of which is higher than the bottom of the falls. Bumble bee queens are sometimes present in orchards, but not usually in enough quantity to be significant pollinators. Just upstream from the Falls' current location, Goat Island splits the course of the Niagara River, resulting in the separation of the Horseshoe Falls to the west from the American and Bridal Veil Falls to the east. Some wild bees such as carpenter bees and other solitary bees may help. The original Niagara Falls were near the sites of present-day Lewiston, New York, and Queenston, Ontario, but erosion of their crest has caused the waterfalls to retreat several miles southward. Home growers may find these more acceptable in suburban locations because they do not sting.

All three formations were laid down in an ancient sea, and their differences of character derive from changing conditions within that sea. Orchard mason bees are also used as supplemental pollinators in commercial orchards. Submerged in the river in the lower valley, hidden from view, is the Queenston Formation (Upper Ordovician), which is composed of shales and fine sandstones. Honeybee hives are most commonly used, and arrangements may be made with a commercial beekeeper who supplies hives for a fee. Because it erodes more easily, the river has undercut the hard cap rock and created the falls. During the flowering each season, apple growers usually provide pollinators to carry the pollen. It is mainly shale, though it has some thin limestone layers, and contains large quantities of fossils. Home growers with a single tree, and no other cultivars in the neighbourhood can do the same on a smaller scale.

Immediately below, comprising about two thirds of the cliff is the weaker, softer and more crumbly and sloping Rochester Formation (Lower Silurian). Growers with old orchard blocks of single cultivars sometimes provide bouquets of crab apple blossoms in drums or pails in the orchard for pollenizers. It is composed of very dense, hard and very strong limestone and dolostone. Quality nurseries have pollenizer compatibility lists. The aerial photo clearly shows the hard caprock, the Lockport Formation (Middle Silurian), which underlies the rapids above the falls and approximately the upper third of the gorge wall. Some cultivars produce very little pollen, or the pollen is sterile, so these are not good pollenizers. When the newly established river encountered the erosion-resistant Lockport dolostone, the hard layer eroded much more slowly than the underlying softer rocks. Orchard blocks may alternate rows of compatible cultivars, or may have periodic crab apple trees, or grafted-on limbs of crab apple.

Three major formations are exposed in the gorge that was cut by the Niagara River. Before planting, it is important to arrange for pollenizers, cultivars of apple or crab apple that provide plentiful, viable and compatible pollen. In doing so it exposed old marine rocks that are much older than the geologically recent glaciation. Pollination management is an important component of apple culture. In time the river cut a gorge across the Niagara Escarpment, the north facing cliff or cuesta formed by erosion of the southwardly dipping (tilted) and resistant Lockport formation between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Apples are self-incompatible and must be cross-pollinated to develop fruit. After the ice melted back, drainage from the upper Great Lakes became the present-day Niagara River, which could not follow the old filled valley, so it found the lowest outlet on the rearranged topography. Apples do require good drainage, and heavy soils or flat land should be tilled to make certain that the root systems are never in saturated soil.

It is thought that there is an old valley, buried by glacial drift, at the approximate location of the present Welland Canal. They do require some protection from the wind and should not be planted in low areas that are prone to late spring frosts. It dammed others with debris, forcing these rivers to make new channels. Apples are relatively indifferent to soil conditions and will grow in a wide range of pH values and fertility levels. The glacier drove through the area like a giant bulldozer, grinding up rocks and soil, moving them around, and deepening some river channels to make lakes. Good training of limbs and careful nipping of buds growing in the wrong places, are extremely important during this time, to build a good scaffold that will later support a fruit load. Both the North American Great Lakes and the Niagara River are effects of this last continental ice sheet, an enormous glacier that crept across the area from eastern Canada. After the small tree is planted in the orchard, it must grow for 3-5 years (semi-dwarf) or 4-10 years (standard trees) before it will bear sizable amounts of fruit.

The historical roots of Niagara Falls lie in the Wisconsin glaciation, which ended some 10,000 years ago. Some trees are produced with a dwarfing "interstem" between a standard rootstock and the tree, resulting in two grafts. . Full dwarf trees are often supported of posts or trellises and planted in high density orchards which are much simpler to culture and greatly increase productivity per unit of land. A popular tourist site for over a century, the natural wonder is shared between the twin cities of Niagara Falls, New York and Niagara Falls, Ontario. Dwarf rootstocks are generally more susceptible to damage from wind and cold. Niagara Falls is renowned for its beauty, and is both a valuable source of hydroelectric power and a challenging project for environmental preservation. While many rootstocks are available to commercial grower, those sold to homeowners who want just a few trees are usually one of two cultivars: a standard seedling rootstock that gives a full-size tree, or a semi-dwarf rootstock that produces a somewhat smaller tree.

With more than 168,000 cubic metres (6 million cubic feet) of water falling over the crestline every minute [1] it is the most powerful waterfall in North America [2] and possibly the best-known in the world. Rootstocks affect the ultimate size of the tree. While not exceptionally high, Niagara Falls is very wide. In time, the two sections grow together and produce a healthy tree. Niagara Falls (French: chutes Niagara) comprises three separate waterfalls: the Horseshoe Falls (sometimes called the Canadian Falls), the American Falls, and the smaller, adjacent Bridal Veil Falls. The upper stem and branches of the rootstock are cut away and replaced with the scion. Niagara Falls (43°4′54.68″N, 79°4′19.5″W) is a set of massive waterfalls located on the Niagara River in eastern North America, on the border between the United States and Canada. Then, a small section of branch called a scion is obtained from a mature apple tree of the desired cultivar.

This is allowed to grow for a year. First, a rootstock is produced either as a seedling or cloned using tissue culture or layering. These small trees are usually purchased from a nursery where they are produced by grafting or budding. Apple orchards are established by planting two to four year old trees.

The sweetness and texture of Honeycrisp have been so popular with consumers that Minnesota orchards have been cutting down their established, productive trees to make room for it, a heretofore unheard of practice. Its most important introductions have included Haralson (which is the most widely cultivated apple in Minnesota), Wealthy, Honeygold, and Honeycrisp. For example, the Excelsior Experiment Station of the University of Minnesota has, since the 1930s, introduced a steady progression of important hardy apples that are widely grown, both commercially and by backyard orchardists, throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. Some breeders have crossed ordinary apples with crabapples or unusually hardy apples in order to produce hardier cultivars.

Some differ sufficiently from the parent tree to be considered new cultivars. Some bud sports turn out to be improved strains of the parent cultivar. Apples can also form bud sports (mutations on a single branch). The words "seedling", "pippin", and "kernel" in the name of an apple cultivar suggest that it originated as a seedling.

Most new apple cultivars originate as seedlings, which either arise by chance or are bred by deliberately crossing cultivars with promising characteristics. Seedling apples are different from their parents, sometimes radically. Like most perennial fruits, apples are ordinarily propagated asexually by grafting. In recent years, many apple connoisseurs have come to regard the Red Delicious as inferior to cultivars such as Fuji and Gala due to its merely mild flavour and insufficiently firm texture.

state of Washington made its reputation for apple growing on Red Delicious. As an example, the U.S. Tastes in apples vary from one person to another and have changed over time. Extremely sweet apples with barely any acid flavour are popular in Asia and especially India.

Most North Americans and Europeans favour sweet, subacid apples, but tart apples have a strong minority following. Modern apples are, as a rule, sweeter than older cultivars. Cider apples are typically too tart and astringent to eat fresh, but they give the beverage a rich flavour that dessert apples cannot. Although most cultivars are bred for eating fresh (dessert apples), some are cultivated specifically for cooking (cooking apples) or producing cider.

Many unusual and locally important cultivars with their own unique taste and appearance are out there to discover; apple conservation campaigns have sprung up around the world to preserve such local cultivars from extinction. A few old cultivars are still produced on a large scale, but many have been kept alive by home gardeners and farmers that sell directly to local markets. Many of them have excellent flavour (often better than most modern cultivars), but may have other problems which make them commercially unviable, such as low yield, liability to disease, or poor tolerance for storage or transport. Old cultivars are often oddly shaped, russeted, and have a variety of textures and colours.

Other desired qualities in modern commercial apple breeding are a colourful skin, absence of russeting, ease of shipping, lengthy storage ability, high yields, disease resistance, typical 'Red Delicious' apple shape, long stem (to allow pesticides to penetrate the top of the fruit), and popular flavour. Commercially-popular apple cultivars are soft but crisp. Apples do not flower in tropical climates because they have a chilling requirement. Different cultivars are available for temperate and subtropical climates.

There are more than 7,500 known cultivars of apples. The legendary placename Avalon is thought to come from a Celtic evolution of the same root as the English "apple", as is the name of the town of Avellino, near Naples in Italy. The scientific name malus, on the other hand, comes from the Latin word for apple, and ultimately from the Greek mēlon. The prevailing theory is that "apple" may be one of the most ancient Indo-European words (*abl-) to come down to English in a recognisable form.

The word apple comes from the Old English word aeppel, which in turn has recognisable cognates in a number of the northern branches of the Indo-European language family. Winter apples, picked in late autumn and stored just above freezing, have been an important food in Asia and Europe for millennia, as well as in Argentina and in the United States since the arrival of Europeans. To a greater degree than other tree fruit, except possibly citrus, apples store for months while still retaining much of their nutritive value. The apple tree was probably the earliest tree to be cultivated, and apples have remained an important food in all cooler climates.

domestica, mainly for increased cold tolerance. These and other Malus species have been used in some recent breeding programmes to develop apples suitable for growing in climates unsuitable for M. Other species that were previously thought to have made contributions to the genome of the domestic apples are Malus baccata and Malus sylvestris, but there is no hard evidence for this in older apple cultivars. sieversii, recently planted by the US government at a research facility, resist many diseases and pests that affect domestic apples, and are the subject of continuing research to develop new disease-resistant apples.

Some individual M. This tree is still found wild in the mountains of Central Asia in southern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Xinjiang, China. It has no common name in English, but is known where it is native as "alma"; in fact, the city where it is thought to originate is called Alma-Ata, or "father of the apples". The wild ancestor of Malus domestica is Malus sieversii.