256 EOSACE^ 



been grafted the apples of which horticulturists have obtained so many 

 varieties. The Pyrus malus of our woods comprehends two varieties of the 

 tree, which Decandolle considers as two distinct species — one, which has a 

 smooth calyx tube, and the other having that portion downy. The first, 

 which is termed acerba, is the Fommier a cidre of the French, and is by this 

 botanist considered to be the origin of our cider apples ; while the latter, mitis, 

 the Fommier a couteau, he regards as that from which are derived the apples 

 used at our tables, but botanists generally consider them merely ditterent 

 forms of the same tree. 



Our cider is the old Anglo-Saxon word Sieder, and our apple is from their 

 . leppel, and these people most probably cultivated the plant at an early period 

 in this country. It is not unlikely that the fruit was one with which the 

 Romans enriched this soil, and which, after their departure, the Saxons 

 found already growing here. The Apple was afterwards cultivated in the 

 gardens of the monasteries, and the Oslin, oi' Arbroath pippin, was either 

 introduced or extensively cultivated by the monks of the Abbey of Aber- 

 l)rothwick ; while old herbalists relate that the Nonpareil was brought from 

 France by a Jesuit in the time of Queen Mary. Chaucer refers to the apple 

 most common in early times — 



" Youi' cliekes embolmed like a mellow costard ;" 



and as we advance in the historj' of the Apple, we find numerous sorts in the 

 lists of old writers. Michael Drayton, whose " Poly-olbion " was published 

 in 1613, sj)eaking of the oi'chards of Kent, says : — 



' ' The pippin, which we hold of kernel fruits the king ; 

 The apple orange ; then the savoury russetan ; 

 The pearniain, which to France long ere to us 'twas known, 

 Which careful fruiterers now have denizen'd our own ; 

 The renat, which though first it from the pippin came, 

 ( Jrown through his jjureness nice, assumes that curious name ; 

 The sweeting, for whose sake the schoolboys oft make war, 

 The wilding, costard, then the well-known pomewater. 

 And sundry other fruits of good yet several taste. 

 They have their sundry names in sundry counties placed." 



Many of the best Apples appear from their names to have been brought 

 from France. "One sort only is named," says Mr. Turner, "in any account 

 of the thirteenth century that has fallen under my observation, the Costard ; 

 it occurs in the fruiterers' bills of the year 1292, but as this fruit was very 

 generally cultivated from an early period, there must have been many 

 varieties known." A reference to this fruit yet exists in the name of Costard- 

 monger, which is an old English term for a seller of vegetables, and was 

 given because these Costard apples would be one of his chief commodities, 

 the large round bulky Costard being in more general use' than the more 

 delicate apples, most of which, indeed, were not cultivated in this kingdom 

 till the reign of Henry VIII. The writer before referred to, Mr. Turner, 

 says, "The pearmain was certainly known by that name soon after the year 

 1200, as Blomefield instances a tenure in Norfolk by petty serjeanty, and the 

 payment of two hundred pearmains, and four hogsheads of cider, or wine 

 made of pearmain, into the Exchequer at the feast of St. Michael yearly. 



