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THE WOOLHOPE CLUB AND HEREFORDSHIEE 

 ORCHARDS. 



To the many benefits the Woolhope Chib has rendered to the district in which it 

 exists (says the Journal of Horticulture) it has added another, which in our 

 opinion far exceeds in importance and lasting good to the country any of its 

 former achievments, important and useful as these may have been. It is an old 

 cry that the varieties of cider apples which made the reputation of the Hereford- 

 shire orchards had died out, and that even their progeny had so far partaken of 

 the senility and efiFeteness of their parents that they, too, had lost all the vigour 

 that was necessary even to existence. This is an idea which we have always 

 fought against ; we have denied over and over again that there was any truth in 

 the theoretical views that have from time to time been propounded by those who 

 professed to base them on what they vaguely term scientific and physiological 

 principles. We are glad to know that the Woolhope Club have discarded such 

 views, and have entered upon the work of restoring to the Herefordshire orchards 

 the old orchard fruits which have added fame and fortune to the county. Since 

 the Club has engrafted pomology on their constitution attention has been given 

 to this all-important subject, and willing hands and sound heads have not been 

 wanting to help in furthering the good work. There have always been in the 

 country a few trusting men, firm in their own convictions, who either disbelieved 

 the prevalent error, or were so sceptical on the subject that they have been silently 

 doing their own work and perseveringly preserving some of the best sort of cider 

 apples, grafting and regrafting from young and vigorous trees, till they have estab- 

 lished and fixed a progeny which possesses all the vigour and health of the original 

 trees. Witness, for instance, what has been done by Mr. John Bosley, of Lyde, in 

 the case of the Foxwhelp. He has proved conclusively that these old varieties can 

 be restored ; and although the cider from young trees cannot be expected to be of 

 a quality equal to that made from old and matured ones, any more than fine \vine 

 can be obtained from a young vineyard, still every year these trees live they are 

 approaching nearer maturity, and every year^ becoming of greater value. We 

 are convinced that landowners who will now set to work and plant orchards of 

 Foxwhelp and Skyrme's Kernel Apples and Taynton Squash Pears of the true 

 sorts, such as are being supplied by the Woolhope Club, will add greatly to the 

 value of their estates — a value which will every year increase with wonderful 

 rapidity. 



We have been led to make these remarks from having received the following 

 circular from the Secretary of the Woolhope Club :— 



SPECIAL NOTICE TO MEMBERS OF THE CLUB. 



The Pomona Committee have the great satisfaction to inform the members 

 that the experiments they have caused to be carried on during the last four years 



