As American as the Apple Pie?

Apple trees and fruit trees and vines in general do not grow well in England because it is too cold and wet and the soils are unfavorable. While there may be a few fruit trees in England, they are in relatively short supply and fruit and its produce has not (since Roman times) been an important part of the British diet, which is best known for "bangers and mashed", boiled beef, crackers and other similar items. Most apple cultivars in England are not English at all, but are French cultivars which is why they have French names like "pippin" and "ruffet". France has a far superior climate for fruit trees and vines.

Just as one evidence of this go to a wine store and look for the "British" wine section. Then compare that to the French wine section.

As a comment on the superiority of the American climate and soil for fruit trees I could cite Peter Williamson's treatise on the geography of New England (1759):

The fruits of Old England come to great perfection here, particularly peaches, which are planted trees; and we have commonly 1200 or 1400 fine peaches on such a tree at one time; nay, of the fruit of one single apple tree in one season, nine barrels of cyder have been made.

When the Americans discovered how well apples grew in America it became the standard practice to plant apple orchards on every plantation due to the marketability of cider, being as good as liquid money. Perry, on the other hand, is not as good tasting here, probably due to dryness and for that reason perry has never been important in America, whereas in England perry and cider were originally equally abundant.

In any case, the practice of growing apples for cider was universal throughout colonial America and this led eventually to the large stock of apple trees which our country still has today and are responsible for the widespread presence and love of apple pie.

I might add that the other answers which claim that apple pie is popular here for 20th-century cultural reasons is completely incorrect. Apple pie is traditional here because of the huge number of apple orchards there are which are a remnant of our colonial past and the dealing in cider at that time.

@congusbongus' answer covered pretty much everything that had to be said about the Apple pies. I wanted to contribute another source to answer your question from phrases.org.uk which adds how American settlers would write back to homeland appreciating American Apple pies and how foreign visitors noted Apple pie as one the first culinary specialities. Quoting my reference below:

"America in So Many Words: Words that have Shaped America" by Allen Metcalf & David K. Barnhart" (Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1997) has a section on the subject --"1697 apple pie."

"Samuel Sewall, distinguished alumnus of Harvard College and citizen of Boston, went on a picnic expedition to Hog Island on October 1, 1697. There he dined on apple pie. He wrote in his diary, 'Had first Butter, Honey, Curds and cream. For Dinner, very good Rost Lamb, Turkey, Fowls, Applepy.'
This is the first, but hardly the last, American mention of a dish whose patriotic symbolism is expressed in a 1984 book by Susan Purdy, 'As Easy as Pie': 'This is IT - what our country and flag are as American as. Since the earliest colonial days, apple pies have been enjoyed in America for breakfast, for an entrée, and for dinner. Colonist wrote home about them and foreign visitors noted apple pie as one of our first culinary specialties.' We cannot claim to have invented the apple pie, just to have perfected it." But here's the surprising part. The expression "as American as apple pie," the authors say, is not that old. "Apple pie figures in our figurative language, too, as in the expressions 'simple as pie' (since everyone supposedly knows how to make apple pie) and, though not an Americanism, 'apple-pie order' . But it was only in the twentieth century, apparently in the 1960s, that we began to be 'as American as apple pie.'"

And of course we remember the notorious H. Rap Brown, whose 15 minutes of fame flickered in the '60s. His immortal quote was "violence is American as cherry pie."

Also these are other few websites with other interesting theories on Americanism of Apple pies:

from priceonomics.com

Throughout the 1700s, Pennsylvania Dutch women pioneered methods of preserving apples -- through the peeling, coring, and drying of the fruit -- and made it possible to prepare apple pie at any time of year. In the vein of many things American, settlers then proceeded to declare the apple pie “uniquely American”, often failing to acknowledge its roots. For instance, in America’s first-known cookbook, American Cookery, published in 1798, multiple recipes for apple pies were included with no indication of their cultural origins.

and from todayifoundout.com there is also an alternate explanation to the phrase and America favouring apples in addition to the above, not quoting it here.