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Lord Scudamore, ‘‘one vast apple orchard ”—to use Evelyn’s words—as it has been 
since then, and still is to this day. In England, however, the orchards of the now 
two famous counties of Worcester and Hereford furnished chiefly, at that time, fruit 
fit only for cider, until the men of Kent led the way by growing best fruit also in 
their fields and hop-gardens; and hop and fruit cultivation have since then gone 
hand in hand ; and this is the way they manage it :— 
The trees being planted at intervals, are allowed to grow for seven years 
with the hops, when the crop is got up and the ground laid down for grass, which 
is then eaten off by sheep, and as hop-ground is the very best of ground—“ for the 
greatest profit in hop-growing,” says an old writer, “‘is the breaking up of the soil 
afterwards ”—orchards thus formed bear apples well. A further profit, too, is 
made by planting alternately with them plum and cherry trees, with cob-nuts be- 
tween the rows—the three kinds of fruit the soil there suits best; pears—except 
the “‘Hessle,” which, like the Worcestershire “Jennett,” bears always well—hbeing 
but little grown in that county. Herefordshire too, though growing best apples, 
produces very few pears, though pear trees are hardy ; in fact, the latter will bear 
well, however much you may cut them, when the former are quite worn out. In 
proof of this we may mention the old orchard at Newland—that Barland 
orchard between Powick and Malvern, where the pear trees still bear abundantly, 
though they must have been planted there as early as four hundred years ago, 
or, as some say, six hundred years. 
Pears, as apples also, came from the East into Italy, and thence into Gaul and 
Britain ; as when the Romans settled in our island and built luxurious villas, they 
introduced into their gardens, from time to time, the fruits they had known in 
Italy. ‘‘ Worcestershire,” says Dr. Bull, ‘‘ was noted for them at an early period, 
and they were adopted as an emblem by the people of that county, as we find in 
the poetical account, by Drayton, of the battle of Agincourt (1415), wherein he 
says that the feudal retainers of the Beauchamps, and other great landowners, 
who owed suit and service to the Crown, bore, as their standard in the field, 
‘a pear tree laden with its fruit ;’ and to this day, in the arms of ‘the Faithful 
City’ are three black pears—those pears which are called ‘iron-hearted.’” The 
origin of this addition, by the bye, is thus accounted for:—When Queen Elizabeth 
came to Worcester, a pear tree. in full bearing, was planted by the gate, that she 
should see it as she entered, and so struck was she with its beauty, and with the 
fact that its fruit, though within reach, remained untouched—as if testifying to the 
behaviour of the worthy citizens—that she directed three pears should henceforth 
be added to the arms of that honest city—three “ black” pears, so the tale goes ; 
and the “‘ Black Pear of Worcester” still grows there. Itisa large pear, so large, 
indeed—growing to the weight of two pounds or more—that it often has to be 
netted ; but, being so hard, it is only fit for stewing. 
‘From the earliest periods,” says Dr. Bull, “‘the apple has ever been held in the 
highest esteem, and its merits are so great that we cannot wonder that it should be 
surrounded with so many poetical and superstitious fancies.” These fancies exist 
in almost every country. Dr. Bull goes fully into the folk-lore of apples, but I shall 
only quote one short passage from his book, the Herefordshire Pomona :— 
