I'llE APl'J.E. ITS VAiaKTIRS. 89 



The common complaiiit agaiust the Blenheim Pippin is, that the tree 



is a bad bearer. This is undoubtedly the case when it is young, being of a 

 strong and vigorous habit of growth, and forming a large and very beau- 

 tiful standard ; but when it becomes a little aged, it bears regular and 

 abundant crops. It may be made to produce much earlier, if grafted 

 on the paradise stock, and grown either as an open dwarf, or an espalier. 



This valuable apple was first discovered at Woodstock, in Oxfordshire, 

 and received its name from Blenheim, the seat of the Duke of Marl- 

 borough, which is in the immediate neighbourhood. It is not noticed in 

 any of the nursery catalogues of the last century, nor was it cultivated 

 in the London nurseries till about the year 1818. 



The following interesting account of this favorite variety was recently 

 communicated to the Gardener's Chronicle. " In a somewhat delapi- 

 dated corner of the decaying borough of ancient Woodstock, within 

 ten yards of the wall of Blenheim Park, stands all that remains of the 

 original stump of that beautiful and justly celebrated apple, the Blen- 

 heim Orange. It is now entirely dead, and rapidly falling to decay, 

 being a mere shell about ten feet high, loose in the ground, and having 

 a large hole in the centre ; till within the last three years, it occasionally 

 sent up long, thin, wiry twigs, but this last sign of vitality has ceased, 

 and what remains will soon be the portion of the woodlouse and the 

 worm. Old Grimmett, the basket-maker, against the corner of whose 

 garden-wall the venerable relict is supported, has sat looking on it from 

 his workshop window, and while he wove the pliant osier, has meditated, 

 for more than fifty successive summers, on the mutability of all sublu- 

 nary substances, on juice, and core, and vegetable, as well as animal, 



