Who Eats All Those Apples?

Apple trees are a common sight in Tasmania. Well, of course they are. Aren't we the Apple Isle? But there are apple trees *and* apple trees.

Some apple trees grow in commercial orchards. These are your well-trained apples, never too tall or too robust, but elegant as a herd of thoroughbred horses. These trees keep their ankles clear of grass, their flowers look prim and their orchardists watch with eagle eyes for any sign of spots, scabs or insect penetration.

Some apples grow in ancient orchards, the trees are gnarled and the apples are often of old varieties that few can remember eating. The fruit gets smaller year by year, yet these apples too are strong and healthy. Are they too sour for grubs' delight, or is it just that these few tough trees have long outlived their weaker companions?

Let's move on to other apples, the family apple tree. These grow in suburban and country gardens. Some are rugged individuals, towering aloft and taunting their owners with visions of sky-backed fruit. Others are tamed, pruned more or less to order, not much taller than their masters. And what of their fruit? It sometimes suffers (whisper it) *grubs*, with those accusing little mounds of brown powder warning you before (we hope) you bite a grub in half.

Grubs aren't poisonous.

Then there's the feral apple, the shy slim tree that grows among the natives near the roadside in a quiet spot frequented by fishermen and dog-walkers. They hang around creeks and bridges, and lurk in deserted gardens whose houses have long departed into rubble. The fruit is small and green and sour enough to bring tears to your eyes if you bite it.

Now you've met the apple trees, but who eats all those apples? The fruit from the commercial orchards is sold in shops or supermarkets, or travels as export produce. Apples are popular fruit, reasonably priced and available in a wide range of flavours, colours and textures. If you see someone eating a piece of fruit at work or play, there's a very good chance it's an apple. The cores of these peripatetic specimens end up in rubbish bins, or tossed among the bushes beside a road. And some of them grow, and re-emerge in a feral apple incarnation.

Ancient orchard apples are eaten too. If the ancient orchard has been converted to an animal paddock, the apples won't last long once they hit the ground. Cows love ancient apples, so do horses. Chooks and goats will have a peck or nibble. Possums delight in apples. They eat a bite then hurl the rest to the ground. Maybe they have apple wars in the night?

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