llardi 1, 1S77. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



159 



especially ia Hertfordshire. Phillips einga its praises thus — 

 " The Catshead's weighty orb enormous in its growth." The 

 Old or Winter Pearmaiu must by no means be omitted. It ia 

 the very oldest historic variety we have. In Bloomfield's 

 history of Norfolk, as quoted by Hogg, there is curious mention 

 made of a tenure in that county by petty sergeantry and the 

 payment of two hundred Pearmaiua and four hogsheads of 

 cider of Pearmains into the Exchequer at the Feaat of St. 

 Michael. The origin of the name is equally curious. In early 

 hiatoricil works of the same period Charlemagne is written 

 Charlemaine, the last syllable as Pearmaine ; and aa Charle- 

 magne was derived from Carolna magnus, so Pearmaine is 

 derived from Pyrus magnus, the Great Pear Apple, in allusion 

 to its pyriform shape. The Lemon or Quince Pippin ia men- 

 tioned by Ellis in 1744 as so good an Apple for all agea that 

 many plant this tree in preference to all others. I kaow a 

 nurseryman in my very neighbourhood who has several trees 

 of this variety in wonderful bearing, but he says he could sell 

 twenty times the quantity be has to different nurseries, where, 

 owing to its briek and refreshing taste, it is a special favourite. 



The Golden Pippin, although of the greatest antiquity, haa 

 very little early history. It ia not the Golden Pippin of John 

 Parkinson, because he speaks of it as a large variety. Evelyn, 

 in his Pomona, states that Lord Clarendon had in his time at 

 his estate in Berkshire an orchard of a thousand Golden and 

 other cider Pippins, but no allusion is made to it as a dessert 

 Apple. The Margii is still grown successfully in Herefordshire. 

 It ia said to have been originally introduced from Versailles 

 in 1750. This Apple was shown very nicely at our last pomo- 

 logical exhibition. In delicacy of flavour it is unsurpassed, 

 but unfortunately it is a shy bearer, owing chiefly to its blos- 

 soms suffering from frost more than any other Apple. The 

 laat, although one of the earliest historic Apples, I shall men- 

 tion is the Pomeroy or King's Apple. This Apple is of extreme 

 antiquity, very little is known of its early history. In Hogg'a 

 " Fruit Mannol" (a work most judiciously added by Dr. Bull 

 to the Free Library), and from whose descriptions I have 

 largely borrowed, two distinct varieties are mentioned in use 

 nearly at the same time, but differing altogether in shape, 

 flavour, quality, and colour of flesh. I take particular interest 

 in this old and highly valuable variety, because in my parish 

 we have three or more very old trees still flourishing, and I 

 was glad to see this Apple shown from many parts at our 

 late exhibition. The original variety of Pomeroy still bears 

 very fine juioy and delicious ftnit in September, but which 

 very soon perish ; indeed last year many Apples dwcayed while 

 hanging on the tree. This undoubtedly would be the Pomeroy 

 of Somerset mentioned by Hogg, though he puts back its aeaaou 

 too late from October to December. Now I was shown, indeed 

 I tasted, a fortnight ago a specimen of the second variety, the 

 Pomeroy of Lancashire, which had been bought in the Here- 

 ford Christmas market under the pseudonym of the Green 

 Blenheim. This cannot be the true Pomeroy, aa this variety 

 does not answer at all to the description given it by the old 

 writers neither seasonably nor etructurally. I was pleased to 

 find in Forsyth, who wrote his treatise in 1810, that this ia 

 only a late variety of the true Pomeroy. He describes it as 

 the Winter Pomeroy, a good baking Apple and keeping till 

 .January. I should say this might be a variety of the true 

 Pomeroy promiscuously crossed with the Nonpareil or one 

 of its many varieties, as it bears strong resemblance to this 

 Apple, 



The most interesting of our cider historic Apples which may 

 be considered aa existing now are the Dymock Bed, the Royal 

 Wilding, the Cowarne Red, the Thyme's Kernel, the Forest 

 Styre, the Underleaf, the Woodcock, and the Foxwhelp. Of 

 these varieties I will only briefly say that the Dymock Red is 

 either a different Apple altogether or altered strangely in 

 character. Now it is one of our earliest and best cider fruits 

 in the Ledbury diatriet, while in Forsyth's time a Dymock 

 Red similar otherwise in description kept from January to 

 March. 



The Royal Wilding also demands a special notice. It ia 

 one of our best cider fruit, and I always thought that Here- 

 fordshire had the credit of raining it until undeceived by 

 Dr. Hogg, who claims that honour for Devonshire. Now, I 

 find in old Barry Laugley so different a plate altogether of the 

 lluyal Wilding in hia time to what it is now with us, that I 

 moat consider them two distinct varieties of Apples until dis- 

 proved by seeing a specimen of this fruit in the autumn from 

 Devonshire. 



The Woodcock is extensively grown in several parts of 



Herefordshire. The trees that I have Been are generally 

 pictures of healthiness and fecundity, while the fruit bears the 

 undoubted characteristics of the original species in structure, 

 especially as regards a curious enlargement on the side of the 

 fruitstalk. Still the cider now-a-days is miserably poor — thin 

 and whelp-like, and not at all in keeping with the high repu- 

 tation it held among writers in the seventeenth century. 



Of the Forest Styre I have failed in obtaining any history 

 whatever. It is mentioned by the oldest writers, and its praise 

 extolled to the skies when grown on light and chalky soils. It 

 is an early sort, and the strength of its cider immense. I am 

 told grafts from the old trees canker soon and perish sooner 

 or later ; while the cider made now is harsh and has lost all 

 that charm of flavour for which formerly it was so celebrated. 



With the Foxwhelp this is not the case, I mean with the 

 original trees. If fruit only can be had the flavour or gnat is 

 most prononce : but from any other trees than the original 

 this flavour ia barely perceptible. With this piece of informa- 

 tion I come to a full stop. Evelyn dismisses the Foxwhelp in 

 a single line coutemptaonsly " as making a cider that requires 

 two or three years to come round." Can I with any sense of 

 self-respect or in common justice believe to the last and dis- 

 miss hurriedly our prince of Apples, the aole survivor in the race 

 of time — our highly-flavoured fruit, that like Shelley's flower 

 is dying of its own sweet loveliness, and like the expiring swan 

 is singing only in its death? No, we orchard lords of Hereford- 

 shire, as represented by the Woolhope Club, mean to pay the 

 highest tribute in our power, and to make its fame immortal 

 by allotting to the Foxwhelp Apple the pride of place in the 

 first number of our standard Herefordshire Pomona ; while as 

 to myself I will not, I repeat, insult a time-honoured lichen- 

 sheathed giant by giving him now a beggarly passing notice ; 

 but thanking the company for their attention, will leave to 

 some brother member the high privilege of reading a special 

 paper in honour of the Foxwhelp, on its longevity, its specific 

 untransferableness, and its nnrivalled power in the words of 

 Evelyn speaking of all good cider, "in soberly eihilirating the 

 spirits of us hypochondriacal islanders." 



WOOLLY APHIS AND THE AUKICDLA. 



I GRIEVE to say that I must be added to the list of sufferers 

 by this peat, the existence of which, as far as the Auricula ia 

 concerned, 1 was utterly ignorant of until the letters that have 

 lately appeared in ihe Journal attracted my notice. I had 

 been much disappointed with the appearance of some of my 

 planta after top-dressing. They did not move with accustomed 

 vigour, and as the loam which I used had been laid up for 

 gome years I concluded it was at fanlt, but against this was 

 the fact that some of the plants were as fine as usual. When 

 the letter of " A. S." appeared in last week's Journal I be- 

 thought me, Can I have this plague ? and so in fear and 

 trembling I went to my frames. The first plant I examined 

 was one of C. J. Perry. I turned it out carefully, and alas ! 

 all along the roots which had well filled the pot were the 

 white woolly threads, which I am afraid must be it ; if so, my 

 failure is to be accounted for. I know not what to do. To 

 turn them cut of their pots now would be, I fear, hurtful, and 

 would spoil all my chance of a bloom (now I fear but a poor 

 one), and yet if I leave them alone I am afraid of the effect on 

 the plants. Need it be said that I feel this to be a great 

 calamity ? We are about to have a grand tournament in Lon- 

 don, and, although the owners of " the largo battalions " in 

 the north are coming with force, I should Uke to have been in 

 the mek'e, and still hope to be in a small way ; but this will 

 very materially hamper me. I am in a ditlioulty here for 

 shade, aad during the summer place my frames under a hedge 

 near which are some old Apple trees, and I fear it is from 

 them I must have the pest. These insect ravages are most 

 mysterious. I have grown Anricalas for forty years on and 

 oti, and yet I never heard of such an enemy as this before. 

 It is not alluded to in any writings on the flower that I am 

 acquainted with, and all at once we hear of it in various di- 

 rections ; and the beasts cannot certainly have communicated 

 one with another, and said, " We have had enough Apple diet 

 for some time, suppose we go in for Auriculas." We unfortu- 

 nate sufferers are indeed to be pitied. 



While writing of garden pests will you allow me to say that 

 the trustful gentleman who said that red-leading Peas was a 

 complete protection against mice is a gay deceiver? at least the 

 Kentish mice are above being stopped by such mean devices. 

 My first sowing of Emerald Gem was well red-leaded, but not. 



