When I think of apple trees, the sound of music comes alive within my mind. It's the voice of my father singing the 1940s tune, "Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree."

"Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me 'Til I come marchin' home . . . . "

When my dad was belting out that tune as we drove down the road, I don't think either of us dreamed that it was the apple trees that might not come marching home. Many apple trees have gone to the burial place of unknown soldiers of the apple, in silent nameless graveyards across the world, as more and more old varieties die out, particularly in America.

You can't sit under that apple tree variety that no longer exists.

In a previous hub, I talked about how in the United States, over six thousand and eight hundred known varieties of apples have disappeared. I also discussed why we need to make a final try to identify forgotten and missing ones, and rescue the remaining ones -- from eventual extinction.

One of the unique things about apple trees is that each of the apples hanging on the apple family tree, if they are grown from seed, are as different from their parent trees and siblings, as our finger prints are to another's -- even if we look similar to our family members on the outside.

Going even further, by growing apples from seed, by the time they have their first fruit (four to five years) taste-wise, the apples may be only appealing to wildlife, or only suitable for making wine or cider.

So, because of this, most choose to propagate a variety of apple via grafting, or by buying commercial nursery stock apple trees. However, you can easily grow apples from seeds. It’s a long shot that you would come up with a new variety, which some people do -- because there are great financial gains in coming up with one that commercial growers like.

It’s also a risk, in that maybe out of a thousand apple trees you grow from seed, perhaps only one will be unique enough, to be that “hot” new apple variety. There are organizations who are devoted to developing new apple varieties, such as some of the links I’ve listed below.

That said, if you a good bit of land or even a small lot, and especially if you have kids -- the experience of growing an apple trees from seed can be most rewarding. They are beautiful and fragrant when they are in bloom, require little care once established, and make a nice addition to your landscape.

Don't waste your time trying to find a place to buy apple seeds online. They aren't sold. You have to eat the apple to get the seeds.

One simple process for starting apple trees from seed, is to chill your apple seeds, wrapped in a damp paper towel, inside a plastic bag or container, for about six weeks. It's important to know from the start that only about a third of the apple seeds will germinate.

Next, place them in some damp peat moss in a small pot or container, and place them in the sun or windowsill (depending upon your climate). Keep them moist. Then, plant them in the ground, when they are about ten inches high in the sunniest place you have.

Planting an apple tree via the seed method, will mean that it will take a good six to ten years before you get more than a handful of apples on your tree annually.

Another thing to consider, if you decide to go the seed route with apples, is that your tree will very likely be a giant tree or revert to being a crab apple tree.

Now, in old-time cookbooks, there are a lot of recipes for crabapples. Otherwise,they are very useful to have in your orchard, if you have a backyard habitat of deer and others, in attracting them to your property and being able to observe and photograph them (as well as feed them).

Originally, apple trees only came from seed germination (pips). Think of them like you would of a dumb terminal in the computer world -- just a host for the mother computer.

If you’ve found an old variety of apple and want to replicate it, and help save it from extinction, the best way to do this is by grafting.

Is there another word for grafting?

Cloning, if you really think about it. You are making a genetic copy. That's pretty exciting, being an amateur scientist in your own backyard.

Lots of people think that grafting is difficult. It really isn’t, although it requires a good bit of patience. By this method, you’ll get that same great apple from the really old tree you’ve either found, always known, or admired.

I'm going to follow up with a separate hub on grafting, as while it is easy, there are several methods and it will require some illustrations. I have included a couple of grafting videos lower in this hub to show it's relative ease.

Aside from that, you can buy new apple trees from a variety of sources, both online and at your local nurseries. Many of them will sell the dwarf size apple trees in a bigger variety than full size apple trees.

• It is believed that the crab apple may be the only apple variety native to North America.
• While apples are commercially grown in thirty-six states, they are still grown in all fifty states.
• Apples are one exceptionally healthy choice, as they are cholesterol free, fat free, and sodium free.
• An apple of medium size is roughly eighty calories.
• In the 1990s wild apple trees across central Asia were tapped for grafts, genetic material and root stocks in hopes of helping the apple industry.
• Apples float because they are one fourth made up of air.
• The record for the largest apple is one that weighed just over three pounds.
• Red apple color always comes from sunlight, trees growing in shade, don’t turn red when they ripen.
• Apples have been known to man since prehistoric days.
• Only oranges are above apples in popularity as a fruit in the United States.
• The oldest variety of apple is believed to be the “Lady” (aka “Api”).
• President George Washington was a pomologist and loved pruning his trees.
• Green apples aren’t affected by sunlight quite the same way that red color apples are.
• Eat your apple peels, don’t peel them. They are your best defense in terms of fiber and antioxidants.
• Six states -- California, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington, are the top apple producers. However, apples are grown in all states.
• There are only seven thousand five hundred commercial apple growers in the U.S.
• The average commercial apple orchard is roughly only fifty acres in size.
• Apples must still be picked by hand.  

I guess most of us would be surprised to think that the apple seed we plant, or variety we graft, it going to outlive us. Apple trees can expect to live to one hundred, and in some cases they can live twice as many years.

Because of their longevity, and our lesser life expectancy -- we need make certain decisions when we plant them. Some of us, especially if we are older to begin with, when we decide to start a new apple tree, might want to consider grafting to a dwarf variety.

Ask yourself if it is really sensible to be climbing on ladders leaning against a tree when you are a senior citizen?

Think of this -- an apple tree can grow to be over forty feet high. This is the reason many commercial growers use dwarf apple tree varieties.

Like most of us, when we age, we don't get prettier in the process. Ancient apple trees can even be hollow inside, and still be alive and producing fruit. Sort of like, active seniors who don't let old age limit them.

Like us, when we reach a certain age, we stop re-producing. Apples too, stop bearing fruit at some age (usually because they lack a companion pollinating tree, that may have died or been removed).