December 18, 1806. ] 



JQUKNAL OF HOltTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE OAKDENEB. 



-105 



in the end of .lane ami be [inning of July. The flesh is pale 

 yellow, very melting and juicy, and much more tender than 

 Bigarreaus usually are."— \Floriti and PowuHoffiet, v., 267.) 



EQTAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Wj.tiil.v Sum, Dec* ni IStll. Thr Slmu lo ,1 ■■ we -";." small 

 one, chiefly made tip of a collection of pit] the Society's 



garden at Chiawick. A small planl and stand of cnt blooms of 

 Pompon Chryaonthemnm Alfred Chapman was sent by Mr. I!. Chap- 

 man, florist, Great Warley, Essex, but as the plant was onlj :' - idling 

 flowering for (he Brat time it will be neces arj to i another 



season beforo its merits can be finally decided nj ind its i baraeter 



for late flowering can be considered established, [n the collection of 



plants from Ohiswick were Poinsettia pnlaheramft, Aiienlm ,\" a 



■ t:i in berry, Solannm p ad -enpsienm. ami Cineraria 

 foLia. Amongst flowering plants to be Bses iBdftie-coaMervator] i - a fine 



speoi nof Lncnlia gratii una, nil -.:.-■■. ' iouat id scents 



the wlioli' Iiihi: v. 



LARGE OLD APPLE TREES. 



ARcnr.or.oou'Ai, societies, as well as many private individuals, 

 are prosecuting their researches in every direction where any 

 remains of the past are likely 1 1 be found, and calculations and 

 conjectures are formed as to the ages of the objects with which 

 arch eulogists come in contact; occasionally the-extra 

 dimensions of particular specimens of tin- \< rid are 



reported and discussed, especially when associated with some 

 important event or revelation Of a bygone ap;.?. These vege- 

 table records are fitting subjects for comment in the pa 

 The Jour.NAL of Hor.Ticui/m:r, whether they be Oak', 

 Hawthorns, fruit trees, or any other member of the veq 

 world ; and notwithstanding the great increase of inq 

 after objects of this kind, it is probable that there are yet many 

 very remarkable trees scattered over the country which have 

 never yet had their features recorded in print. 



Not many days ago happening to he in the park of Sir E. 

 Filmer, Bart., East Sutton, the size of a healthy, noble Oak 

 attracted my attention. Its bole was short, its root-claws were 

 on the surface, and it had a wide-spreading top formed by huge 

 limbs at 8 or 9 feet from the ground. A string was drawn 

 round what might be called the waist of the tree, or where it was 

 smallest, yet there it was upwards of 24 feet in circumference. 



A similar-shaped tree I noticed a year or two ago in Buck- 

 inghamshire, in a hedgerow. This tree was 28 feet 8 tm hes i'i 

 circumference at the smallest part, wl circumference 



could be. taken. It was an Oak, and by its appearance was 

 likely to outlive several generations of the human race. 



These examples are not the largest that could be gh 

 such trees, and I have on more than one occasion m 

 churchyard Yew tree not far from where I writ'', i 

 upwards of 32 feet in circumference at the smallest pa,' 

 bole, the height of which is 8 or 'J fe ■'. My 

 is not to describe trees of this kind, but to call attention to 

 some very old Apple trees at Linton Park, and to request ether 

 correspondents to report remarkable specimens thai I 

 under their notice; for although it is not likely an; p-'cimens 

 of our common fruit trees can be found to compete 

 quarian point of view with our Oaks and Yews, still there are 

 many such trees which 

 deserve to be more fully known. 



Taking the cultivated Appl -iry.it is no 



easy matter to follow its history backwards thro 13 ages; 



but there is a belief that the wild Grab had undere ne some 

 transformation about the time of the ('■■■ is also 



a strong belief that at that time the P.. 



in temperature more nearly than now to the 1 1 ut climate of 

 Spain, and the south of France, and that the Grape Vino ripened 

 its fruit out of doors more freely then than it does now. This, 

 however, is rtained. still the fact of there 



baring-been Grapes-grown. in the" landaswel! 



the southern counties, gives reason to b 

 v. armer in those days than at the present lime. Beth: 

 may, certainly we hear little of tl. i tie period which 



succeeded the Conquest was not lit 



of articles of luxury, such as it would then be ; and probably it 

 was not until after the i beeoMfo Luxuries 



of nations farther advanced in - ; ' ilisation than our forefathers 

 that a taste for fruits beca fcel lot us 



one of the nearest continental nation I alike in 



household comforts and in cultural skill. To the 1 

 are indebted for manyiofjour most e.-i b .1 ' : 



either history or tradition is at fault, if one of our sovereigns 

 most renowned for encotfragrhg industrial pursuits amongst 

 his subjects, had not to send ! for a salad for the royal 



table. It is not at all unlikely that the messengers .sent for 

 such productions should acquire the mode of growing them at 

 home, and Flemish Cress and Flanders Spinach, names not 

 lost sight of yet, might be associated with many other vegetables 

 now forgotten. 



We ore told that the enterprising cultivators of the Low 

 Countries were also amongst the first who improved the Apple, 

 and from them there is reliable information that a gardener to 

 Henry VIII.. bought a number of trees, which he planted at a 

 place in tho northern part of Kent. Probably others of the same 

 kind were plantetl in proximity to some of the royal palaces. 

 Whether this was so or not, tradition, and, I believe, history, 

 affirm that an orchard of Flemish Apple trees was planted at 

 Teynhain, in Kent. We are also told that a number of Cherry 

 trees reached us about the same time, and that they were 

 planted at Sittingbourne, which is only a very short distance 

 from the former place, and thus we have evidence that two 

 such useful fruits as Apples and Cherries were introduced from 

 Flanders into Kent. 



Such events were not likely to pass without some remem- 

 brance of them being kept up, and if any remains of these 

 identical trees are still in existence, it, is hoped that some corre- 

 spondent will report their condition in the pages of this Journal. 



Should the original trees of the Flemish Pippin and Cherries 

 mentioned above have all passed away, their oldest represen- 

 tatives must be interesting, and as the remains of a very old 

 orchard of Apple trees exist here, a description of them, with 

 the assistance of such notes of their history as can be gleaned, 

 may, perhaps, induce others having trees of similar antiquity 

 to contribute to these pages their descriptions. 



Within the boundary of Linton Park is an enclosure of about 

 five acres, which, though now devoted to other purposes, still 

 retains the name of " The Old Orchard," for some venerable 

 oid Apple trees exist th< re, and in favourable seasons they bear 

 a fair proportion of fruit. These trees are of great age, and 

 the few that now remain must have been of a large size before 

 decay set in. The accompanying engraving, taken from a fair 

 specimen, will give some idea of the appearance they now pre- 

 sent. They would seem to have had clear stems of from to 

 10 feet high, and the tops assume the ordinary character of aged 

 trees. They have not in any way been meddled with for many 

 years, the elements being their only pruners, and now and then 

 these have been so rude and violent as to break off large limbs, 

 and sometimes the whole tree has given way. 



The situation of "The Old Orchard" is on the southern 

 slope of a hill, with an elevation of about 300 feet above the 

 sea level. At present the trees are sheltered from most winds 

 except that from the north, hut in their best days they do not 

 seem to have been so protected. The ground has long been in 

 grass, and about tweuty-fiv: 1 1 a belt and some orna- 



mental clumps of trees and shrubs weVe formed out of part of 

 the ore' wing such trees as then stood within these 



enclosure:- to nemain, and Oriental Planes, Sycamores, Tulip 

 Trees,,. -wing subjects have overtopped the Apple 



trees; - i: the death of the latter has 



■: -1 by the intruders, as some so circumstanced 

 ;.; out in the open ground. It is, 

 however, like] those now remaining will have passed 



away in ten or a dozen yaara ; but the unusual dimensions of 

 d with the fact that the fruit they bear 

 - hie — indeed better than that of many trees 

 ill render some notice of their peculiari- 

 - ing. 



Unfortunately I cannot learn that any record exists -f the 

 time this orchard was planted ; but old people, who knew the 

 orchard well upw« . speak of it as being a 



very old orchard at that time, many trees having even then 

 died from old age, but the remaining ones were bearing well. 



The i -ears ago had the reputation of being good. 



The kinds mentioned as being popular at that time have, how- 

 ever, all succumbed to ; of time. Nonpareils, which 

 were r( 1 have 1 a guinea a-bnshel about the 

 uing of the present century, on some 



I 

 1 1 f bygone days ; 

 - cimen produced some very good fn mbling 



-. laid 

 the tree on its side half a dozen ye.'i leties 



v.'-n-' left are more limited than the number of trees, in fact, 



