APPLE ORCHARDS IN ENGLAND. 



upon very exposed sites, have the same peculiarities with those in the vicinity of the sea; 

 that is, they are slow of growth and scrubby. 



Another important circumstance to be noticed, as distinguishing the apple districts, is 

 in the nature of their soils. These are found, however, varying otherwise, invariably to 

 have a large proportion of lime, and generally of potash, in their chemical composition. 

 AVith reference to this I quote the observations of Mr. Frederic Falkner.* 



" Great light has been lately thrown upon the adaptation of soils to particular plants, 

 and it is now easy to account for the predilection, so to speak, of the apple-tree for soils 

 that abound in claj'S and marls. All deciduous trees require a considerable proportion of 

 potash for the elaboration of their juices in the leaves, and are prosperous, or otherwise, 

 in proportion to the plentiful or scanty suppl^"^ of that substance in the soil. Liebig has 

 shown, that the acids generated in plants are always in union with alkaline or earthy 

 bases, and cannot be produced without their presence. * * * Now the apple-tree, 

 during its development, produces a great quantity of acid; and therefore, in a corres- 

 ponding degree, requires alkaline, and, probabl}', earth}' bases also, as an indispensable 

 condition to the existence of fruit." 



Again, the same writer: 



" It cannot be denied that ammonia, and also the humus of decaj^ng dung, must have 

 some influence on the growth of the tree in such soils, and also in the development of the 

 fruit; but it is most certain, at the same time, that these alone would be perfectly ineffi- 

 cient for the production of the fruit without the co-operation of (the alkaline bases.) 

 The size and perhaps the flavor of the fruit may be somewhat affected bj'' the organic part 

 of the manure, but its ver}' existence depends upon the presenc§iin the soil of a sufficient 

 quantit}' of those inorganic or mineral substances which are indispensable to the forma- 

 tion of acids." 



But it is also found bj' analj-sis that lime enters into the composition of the loood of the 

 apple-tree in verj'^ large proportions. By the analysis of Fresenius, the ash of the wood 

 of the apple contains 45.19 per cent, of lime and 13. G7 per cent, of potash. B}' the anal3'sis 

 of Dr. Emmons, of Albany, N. Y., the ash of the sap-wood of the apple contains of lime 

 18. G3 per cent, and 17.50 per cent, of phosphate of lime. 



But it is not wherever soils of the sort I have described (calcareous sandstones and 

 marly clays) abound in a district, that you find that the farmers have discovered that it 

 is for their interest to have orchards; nor are they common in all the milder latitudes of 

 England; but wherever you find a favorable climate, conjoined xoith a strongly calcareous 

 and moderately aluminous soil of a sufficient depth, there you will find that for centuiies 

 the apple-tree has been extensively cultivated. Evelyn speaks, 1G7G, of the apples of Here- 

 fordshire, and says there were then 50,000 hogsheads of cider produced in that county 

 yearly. Theancientcapitalof modern Somersetshire, one of the present "Cider Counties," 

 was known by the Romans as Avallonia, (the town of the apple orchards.) It would 

 not be unlikely that the universal ceremony in Devonshire, of "shooting at the apple 

 tree," (hereafter described,) originated in some heathen rite of its ancient orchardists. 



To obtain choice dessert fruit, the apple in England is everywhere trained on walls, and 

 in the colder parts it is usual to screen a standard orchard on the north by a plantation 

 of firs. There is no part of the United States where the natural summer is not long 

 enough for most varieties of the apple to perfect their fruit. In Maine, and the north of 

 New-Hampshire and Vermont, the assortment of varieties is rather more limited than 

 elsewhere, I believe; but I have eaten a better apple from an orchard at Burlin 



* Jourii;>l of llie Royal Agricultural Society, vol. iv. p. SSL 



