CIDER APPLES. II7 



as are knowne by much experience to be especiall good for cider." 

 Neither is any notice taken of it by Dr. Beale in his ^'Herefordshire 

 Orchards, written in an epistolary address to Samuel Hartlib, Esq.," 

 in 1656. 



The first notice of it, after Evelyn, is by Worledge in 1676, who 

 merely says, " The Foxwhelp is esteemed among the choice cider 

 fruits." In Evelyn's time it seems to have been regarded as a 

 native of Gloucestershire, for Dr. Smith in the "/'(rw/fz/rt " when 

 writing of "the best fruit" (with us in Gloucestershire) says, "the 

 cider of the Broinsbury Crab and Foxivhelp is not fit for drinking 

 till the second year, but then very good " ; and in the quotation at 

 the head of this paper " A person of great experience " calls it " the 

 Foxivhelp of the Forest of Deane." 



Its great merit as a cider apple seems to have been quickly 

 recognised, but its cultivation up to this period could not have been 

 on an extensive scale, or it would have been more generally known. 

 Even Philips in his celebrated poem, entitled " Cyder " seems as 

 ignorant of its existence, as most of the writers on orchards were at 

 that period. A highly appreciative notice of it is found in a letter 

 to a friend, written by Hugh Stafford, of Pynes in Devonshire, Esq., 

 bearing date 1727. He says, "This is an apple long known, and 

 of late years has acquired a much greater reputation than it had 

 formerly. The fruit is rather small than middle-sized ; in shape 

 long, and all over of a dark red colour. I have been told by a 

 person of credit, that a hogshead of cider from this fruit has been 

 sold in London for ^^8 or eight guineas, and that often a hogshead 

 of French wine, has been given in exchange for the same quantity 

 oi Foxivhelp. It is said to contain a richer and more cordial juice 

 than even the Redstreak itself, though something rougher if not 

 softened by racking. The tree seems to want the same helps as the 

 Redstreak to make it grow large. It is of Herefordshire extraction." 

 Mr. Knight in the " Pomona Herefordiensis," published in 181 1, 

 also thought it " certainly a true Herefordshire apple," and this of 

 late, has been the prevalent belief, derived probably from the 

 opinion of the two last named writers. 



The merit of its production thus rests with the Forest of Dean, 

 on the authorities we have given, but there is no record of the origin 



