The spread of Johnny Appleseed

DRIVE along a country lane at this time of the year and you may see an apple tree growing out of the hedgerow.

Drive along a major road, however, and you will see many more. All have grown from the apple cores that we throw out of the window as we travel along.

You first notice the trees in spring, when pink-and-white apple blossom bursts prettily into flower.

It's then that you realise exactly how numerous they are-it's rather aweinspiring to think that all those flowering beauties have grown from apples, probably bought in shops and supermarkets years ago and consumed by drivers or passengers on long car journeys.

There's a stretch of road near one of the army bases on Salisbury Plain where you can see innumerable apple trees lining the old route to London. One September day, I decided that it would be fun to pick a couple of apples from each of them and take them home for our children to taste with us and come up with a verdict on their quality. It turned out that 'quality' was not the right word.

Most of them were insipid and a few were actually disgusting.

This was no surprise. The apples we eat are the result of many centuries of hybridisation and selection.

They don't come true from seed.