CHAP. XLII. ROSA CEH. PY‘RUS. 895 
from Media, the country from which apple trees were first brought into Greece; 
but Seckler thinks that the term Medica was more probably applied by the 
Greeks to the peach, which is indigenous in Media. Pliny not only mentions 
apples of different kinds, but also crabs and wildings, which are small and sour 
and, for that reason, “have many a foul word and shrewd curse given them.” 
The apple was extensively cultivated in the neighbourhood of Rome; and 
many of the sorts took their names from the first grafters. It must be con- 
fessed, however, that Pliny has stated so many particulars as facts, respecting 
the apple (such as turning the fruit red, by grafting it on the mulberry, &c.), 
which are well known to be physiologically impossible, that very little confi- 
dence is to be placed in statements by him of any kind. The apple was, in all 
probability, introduced into Britain by the Romans, as well as the pear; and, 
like that fruit, perhaps reintroduced by the heads of religious houses on their 
establishment, after the introduction of Christianity. According to Fuller, 
pippins were first introduced into England in the time of Henry VIII.; and 
they were planted at Plumstead in Sussex ;_ but it is altogether unreasonable 
to suppose that there were not abundance of apple trees in the country long 
before that time. The golden pippin is said to have been originated at Par- 
ham Park in Sussex, as the Ribstone pippin was at Ribstone Park in York- 
shire. The best apples, in Gerard’s time, were the queening, pearmains, 
the paradise, and some other kinds, amounting in all to seven; but, he says, 
there are a great many others; adding, that Kent “ doth abound with apples 
of most sorts.” He afterwards mentions that he has “seen in the pastures 
and hedgerows about the grounds of a worshipful gentleman’s dwelling, 
two miles from Hereford, called Master Roger Bodnome, so many trees of all 
sorts, that the servants drink, for the most part, no other drinke but that 
which is made of apples.” (Herbal, p. 1459.) Herefordshire appears to 
have been noted for its trees and its cider from a very early period ; and some 
of the oldest apple trees in existence are believed to be in England, and in 
that county. Parkinson describes 57 varieties of apples; and the number 
seems to have been constantly increasing to the present time. A great many 
excellent sorts have been raised by T. A. Knight, Esq., P.H.S.; and many, 
also,on the continent of Europe and in Nerth America; the whole of which have 
been collected in the garden of the London Horticultural Society, where there 
are now (1836) upwards of 1400 distinct sorts, exclusive of synonymes, to 
which number additional sorts are being added every year; and their compa- 
rative merits estimated. 
Properties and Uses. The wood of the apple, in a wild state, is fine-grained, 
hard, and of a brownish colour; and that of the cultivated apple is said to be 
of a still finer and closer grain, which is a result of cultivation contrary to 
what is usual. The weight of the wood of the apple tree varies much accord- 
ing to the locality in which it is grown. In a green state, it weighs from 
48 lb. to 66 lb. per cubic foot; and it loses from an eighth to a twelfth of 
its bulk in drying, and about a tenth of its weight. The wood of the cultivated 
tree weighs heavier than that of the wild tree, in the proportion of about 66 
to 45. These particulars will be found given more in detail in the Dictionnaire 
des Eaux et des Foréts ; in which it is also stated, that the wood of the pear 
is incomparably superior in every respect to that of the apple. In Britain, 
apple tree wood was formerly a good deal used in turnery, and as cogs for 
wheels, for which latter purpose it was found very durable. The tree, as an 
object in landscape scenery, cannot be recommended as harmonising well with 
other forms; but, as it has a character of its own, and as the fruit is of the 
greatest use to the poor, as well as to the rich, it deserves introduction 
into every hedgerow, and every orchard. For hedgerows, it is more especially 
desirable, as though, not so fastigiate as the pear, it does very little injury 
to the crops by its shade; and it may be added, that, in nurseries and 
market-gardens, the former more especially, young trees of almost every 
kind thrive under the shade both of the apple and the pear. This is strik- 
ingly exemplified in the Goldworth and Knaphill Nurseries, in Surrey, where 
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