ROSE TRIBE 257 



Cider was largely manufactured during the thirteenth century, even^as far 

 north as Yorkshire. Thus, in 1283, the bailift" of Cowick, near Richmond, in 

 that county, stated in his account that he had made sixty gallons of cider 

 from three quarters and a half of apples. Our forefathers considered the 

 apple to be a 'soft fruit,' and more wholesome than the pear. Necham 

 records that an apple swims when thrown into the water, while a pear will 

 sink." 



The pippins, Avhich were so called because the trees were raised from 

 pips or seeds, and would produce fruit without being grafted, were 

 brought from France, according to Fuller, in the sixteenth year of 

 Henry VIII., and half a centviry after we find them well known, as Justice 

 Shallow says, " You shall see mine orchard, where, in an arbour, we will eat 

 a last year's pippin of my own graffing ;" but the golden pippin, the renat of 

 Michael Drayton, was called the ReineUe d'Angleterre, and is by the Dutch now 

 called Engelsche goud Pepping. It was an apple of English and not of foreign 

 origin, ha-\dng, it is said, been first raised at Parham Park in Sussex. 

 Catherine of Russia, who was fond of this apple, had it brought every year 

 from England for her use. The cider orchards of Herefordshire, so beautiful 

 in May with their masses of rosy flowers, were first planted in the time of 

 Charles I. ; and before the time of Charles II., cider, which had been in 

 some measure in use for nearly a century before, had become a chief beverage 

 of the nation. Gerarde says, in 1597, "I have seen about the pastures and 

 hedgerows of a worshipful gentleman's dwelling, two miles from Hereford, 

 called Mr. Roger Badnome, so many trees of all sortes, that the servants 

 drink for the most part no other drink but such as is made of apples. The 

 qualitie is such, that, by the report of the gentleman himselfe, the parson 

 hath for tythe many hogsheads of cider." This old herbalist was a great 

 advocate for planting this tree, for he says, " Gentlemen, that have land and 

 living, put forward, in the name of God ; graff"e, set, plant, and nourish up 

 trees in every corner of your grounds; the labour is small, the cost is 

 nothing, the comnioditie is great, yourselves shall have plentie, the poor 

 shall have somewhat in time of want to relieve their necessitie, and God 

 shall rewarde your good mindes and diligence." The value of the apple as 

 an edible fruit is enhanced by the length of time which it may be kept, thus 

 affording a store of fresh fruit throughout the winter and spring. Cornwall 

 and Devonshire have always produced good apples, and the Cornish gilly- 

 flower apple has a well-deserved renown. The beautiful Ribston pippin, 

 with the streaks of red tingeing its russet surface, was raised at Ribston 

 Park in Yorkshire, and good apples are grown extensively in Kent and other 

 counties. The chief apple or cider counties lie in the form of a horse-shoe 

 around the Bristol Channel, and many acres of orchard land in Devon, 

 Somerset, Worcester, and Hereford are full of Apple-trees, affording emplo}^- 

 ment in the fruit season to large numbers of poor people. Cider is still in 

 use in farmhouses as a common beverage in many parts of the kingdom, but 

 it is not eas}'' to compute the quantity which is produced, as there is now no 

 duty on that liquor. 



Many persons have so long accustomed themselves to speak of the fruit 

 which Eve plucked in Eden as an apple, that careless readers of Holy Writ 



33 



