ROSACE.. 957 
from Justice Shallow’s invitation to Falstaff :—« You shall see mine orchard, where in 
an arbour we will eat a last year’s pippin of my own grafting.” The practice of 
grafting, or grafting as it is called, is of very ancient origin, and is now constantly used 
as a method of perpetuating the varieties originally obtained from seed. A notion was 
formerly entertained that the grafts would only last as long as the parent tree; but 
there seems no reason to doubt that if the operation of grafting be properly performed, 
the graft may be as durable as a tree raised from seed, and the kind perpetuated indefi- 
nitely. The best Apples in Gerarde’s time were the queening-pearmains, the para- 
dise, and some other sorts. He tells us that “Kent doth abound with Apples of 
most sorts,” and adds: “ But I have seen in the pastures and hedgerows about the 
grounds of a worshipfull gentleman dwelling two miles from Hereford, called Master 
Roger Bodnome, so many trees of all sorts, that the servants drinke for the most part 
‘no other drinke but that which is made of Apples. The quantity is such, that by the 
report of the gentleman himselfe, the parson hath for tithe many hogsheads of syder. 
The hogs are fed with the fallings of them, which are so many, that they make choice 
of those apples they do eate, who will not taste of any but of the best; an example, 
doubtless, to be followed of gentlemen that have land and living: but envie saith, the 
poore will breake down our hedges, and we shall have the least part of the fruit ; but 
forward in the name of God,—graffe, set, plant, and nourish up trees in every corner 
of your ground ; the labour is small, the cost is nothing, the commodity your selves 
‘shall have plenty, the poore shall have somewhat, in time of want, to relieve their 
necessitie, and God shall reward your good minds and diligence.” 
Herefordshire and Worcestershire are the counties in England where the most 
Apples are grown, and in the early spring the white blossoms of the trees form a dis- 
tinctive feature in the landscape, as the ripe and ruddy fruit amidst the green leaves 
does in the autumn. Some of the oldest Apple-trees in existence are to be found in 
Herefordshire, and the number of varieties there cultivated are numerous ; but in the 
catalogue of Apples published by the Horticultural Society of London we find 1,400 
different sorts enumerated and described ; and this list is increased every year. 
The wood of the Apple is hard and tough, and well fitted for the use of the 
turner : that of the Wild Apple is superior to the cultivated variety. The uses of the 
Apple as an eatable fruit are very numerous. Apples are equally good cooked and 
in a raw state, and may be easily preserved in the form of jelly, and also by a process 
which is carried on chiefly in Norfolk, of drying them slowly in bakers’ ovens and then 
pressing them flat till they are perfectly soft and of a rich brown colour. Apples so 
prepared will keep for many months, and are sold under the name of “ biffins,” really 
beau fins. The chief commercial value of Apples is in the manufacture of cider, which 
is carried on extensively in Herefordshire, Worcestershire, and Devonshire. In the 
two former counties large orchards of Apple-trees cover many acres of ground, especi- 
ally with a view to this beverage. The fruit is allowed to remain on the trees until 
perfectly ripe. It is then gathered and placed ina crushing-mill, and the juice expressed 
by a very heavy roller. This is allowed to ferment ; and it is in the careful attention to 
this process that the excellence of the cider consists. The usual produce of an Apple- 
tree is from one to two hogsheads of fruit, which will, under the most favourable circum- 
stances, yield one hogshead of cider; but more commonly it requires three trees to 
produce two hogsheads. Upon an average, about twenty-six to thirty bushels of Apples 
yield a hogshead of cider, and a single acre of good orchard-land will sometimes furnish 
from five to six hundred bushels of fruit ; but the produce varies greatly, as the blossom 
of the Apple, like that of most of our fruit-trees, is likely to be injured by the late 
VOL. III. 2 L 
