AprU 30, 1868. ] 



JGUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



325 



slates, 12 inches long by 5 inches wide, and set tbem on end, 

 about 8 inches beiny below the surface of the ground, forming 

 a double row of slates edge to edge, and taking care that the 

 two edges in the inner row met at the midiUo of the slate of 

 the outer row. One man can put down many yards in a day, 

 and the material costs me less than three farthings per foot. — 

 W. A. Dabdishire. 



[Oiir oonespondent lives in the land of slates, Wales. — Eds] 



CIDER AS A TEST OF THE QUALITY OF 

 APPLES. 



The flavour of the Grapo has been discussed by those who 

 propose to establish rules for the guidance of judges enpiged 

 in awarding prizes at horticultural exhibitions ; and why not 

 also inquire into the merit? of other fruits ? and by carrying the 

 investigation further than has yet been done in the case of the 

 Grape, it is possible we may arrive at the conclusion that some 

 of the points of excellence are attributable to causes over 

 which the cultivator has but little control. 



The fruits to which I would more immediately call attention 

 are the two most common and hardy of our large fruits — 

 namely. Apples and Pears, and it should be our endeavour to 

 ascertain under what conditions the best samples of each are 

 produced, and why friiit from one place has the reputation of 

 possessing a finer flavour than that from another situation 

 apparently equally favoured, as far as position and natural ad- 

 vantages are concerned. Samples of the same fruit grown at 

 two places frequently difl'er much in quality, although the 

 culture may have been the same in both cases ; but the cause 

 of this has not received the attention which the subject de- 

 serves. A short time ago some cases came under my notice 

 which seemed to me to account in a gieat measure for this 

 apparent anomaly, and to afford a good reason for assuming 

 that many other cases of a similar kind may be traced to a like 

 source. 



Assuming the palate to be the criterion by which the merits of 

 several samples of fruit are tested, it need scarcely be remarked 

 that the results arrived at by the trial of a few dishes at ordinary 

 horticultural shows, are not sufUcient to satisfy those who may 

 be disposed to consider the produce of one district superior to 

 that of another, as the palate of the taster is liable to be cloyed, 

 and the few examples the judges are able to test hardly enable 

 them to say more than that dish No. 1 exceeds in flavour 

 dish No. 2, and so on. The general public seldom inquires 

 into the conditions under which the winning samples were pro- 

 duced, and even if this were done, other properties, sucli as 

 size, appearance, itc, are taken into accoimt in making the 

 awards, and flavour alone is seldom regarded. Xow, the case 

 I have in view, is one in which a large quantity of fruit of one 

 district excels that of a similar growth in another, even where 

 latitude, position, and other natural advantages appear to be 

 much the same. It is only just to suppose this to occur in 

 England as well as abroad, for it is well known that certain 

 districts in the wine-producing countries furnish wine of a 

 superior quality to that which can be produced in neighbouring 

 districts apparently equally favoured by Nature, and the skill 

 of the cultivator. The exquisite quality attained in the one 

 district cannot be matched in the other, and so often has this 

 been found true, that we may fairly assume that what has 

 baffled the would-be wine-producer abroad, has in some degree 

 a parallel in this country as regards more hardy fruits. Cer- 

 tainly the cases that will be recorded here resemble those of 

 the good and indifferent wine-producing districts. 



In the southern and western counties of England, it is usual 

 to make large quantities of cider from such Apples as there is 

 no sale for, or which are not valuable enough to be retained 

 for other purposes. This ordinary cider is almost always made 

 of mixed fruits, a superior kind being made either of some 

 one celebrated variety, or of choice kinds only. Of this it is 

 not necessary to say much, as it is not the kind by which a fair 

 comparison between the produce of different districts can be 

 made, it being a fancy article, and often bearing a fancy 

 price, and certain cider-makers in the west of England are noted 

 for its production. Jly purpose, however, is to compare 

 the common or ordinary article of one district with that of 

 another, and here will be found a difference difficult to account 

 for, and certainly so far as I can see, that difference is not 

 likely to be ever removed by cultivation ; natural causes, and 

 these only, appearing to produce so much difference. And in 

 the matter of the flavour of fruits of other kinds, may we not 



reasonably suppose that similar causes may have exercised a 

 like influence ? Confining the matter to cider let us see the 

 effects which are perceptible to every one in two districts in 

 this county, and endeavour to trace the cause. 



In the southern side of the county of Kent, adjoining Sussex, 

 the country presents an undulating surface, and towards Ton- 

 bridge Wells rocks of a soft kind of sandstone crop out, and a 

 similar kind of soil and substratum pervades the adjoining 

 boundary of Sussex. The presence of stone, however, does not 

 seem to be required by the Apple, but I imagine the chemical 

 composition of the soil, whatever that may be, to be the same in 

 most of the districts alluded to, whether the stone is present or 

 not. The proportions of lime or chalk would appear to be a 

 very small one indeed, while iron in some form seems to abound. 

 In such soil the Apple grows freely, and the cider made is 

 much sought after. 



Taking another district a few miles to the north of this, we 

 have ridges of chalk hills, with some eminences in which lime- 

 stone or rag predominates. This district is not by any means 

 less fruitful than that just alluded to ; and I believe the fruit 

 as a general rule is larger and finer-looking, and other crops 

 also show in some places an amount of fertility not to be sur- 

 passed. Of course, in the thin shallow soils agricultural crops 

 and grasses are none of the best, while hedges and forest trees 

 of most kinds seem quite at home ; yet the quality of the eider 

 made from the Apples grown on such a soil is far inferior to 

 that made in the other district, and has been established by so 

 many years of trial and so many hundreds of judges, that the 

 cause would appear to be due only to some difference in the 

 chemical properties in the soil of the one place as compared to 

 the other. Now, this is not a case in which half a dozen, or 

 perhaps only half that number of critics, have awarded a prize, 

 but where a whole people may be said to have pronounced an 

 opinion of which the justice is not questioned ; and when we 

 take into consideration the fact that the fruit from the district 

 producing the best cider is in general not so fine as that of the 

 other district, and rarely brings so high a price in the market, 

 the question may justly be asked. Is the same result not likely 

 to occur with Grapes ? Leaving this unanswered, the state of 

 things described above opens up a wide field for speculation, 

 though it is somewhat humiliating to our vanity, as proving 

 that our efforts in the way of cultivation are after all only a 

 secondary matter as regards the final result. 



Wine, cheese, and cider are indebted to the skill of the 

 manufacturer as well as to the quality of the material they are 

 made from ; but it is questionable whether these and some 

 other articles were not equally good, if not better, a hundred 

 years ago than they are now ; and I may add that in the cider 

 counties some of the kinds of Apples no more to be had, seem 

 to be regretted. The management of cider is certainly not so 

 well understood as it ought to be, and the instances in whiok 

 it is either spoiled or nearly so are numerous enough. Most 

 likely when gi-eater facilities occur for the transfer of small 

 and moderate-sized fruit from the orchard to the back streets 

 of our large towns, where they are at all times acceptable, the 

 quantity consigned to the cider mill will be much smaller. 

 As it is, only the inferior Apples are made into cider ; and in 

 seasons when the general crop is light, and the price pays the 

 grower to send the fruit to market, the quantity is still smaller. 

 Giber causes, such as the popularity of light beer, have also 

 tended to diminish the demand for this beverage. Let it be 

 borne in mind that my object in writing upon it was to show 

 that soils have an influence on hardy fruits, which it is vain to 

 look for pruning of any kind to counteract. — J. Robsok. 



HARLAXTON. 



TuE Seat of John Sherwine Geegoet, Esq. 

 This is one of the most magnificent mansions in England, 

 both in regard to its size and the elaborate and splendid style 

 of its architecture. It was built by Gregory Williams Gregory, 

 Esq., who died in 18o4, just as he had finished it, and furnished 

 it with all that could be collected of what was most rare and 

 costly in the shape of furniture and works of art. After his 

 death it passed into the possession of a brother, who threw it 

 open to the public ; and such was the rush from all parts of the 

 country to see it, that a large hotel had to be built close by to 

 afford the visitors temporary accommodation. It was during this 

 period that Her Majesty the Queen paid it a visit; and it was 

 surmised that it was to be purchased for the Prince of Wales. 

 On the death of its then owner — who most injudiciously left 



