APPLE. 



APPLE. 



438 



vi -yod by bees to the prepared blossoms, and the result of the experi- 

 ment will in consequence be uncertain and unsatisfactory." 



" Ever)- seed, though many be taken from a single apple, will afford 

 a new and distinct variety, which will generally be found to bear some 

 resemblance to each of its parents. Examples of this are presented in 

 the Grange apple and Downton pippin, and in the Foxley apple and 

 Siberian Harvey." 



Of all the apples cultivated by our ancestors, a very small number 

 only is known to the present generation. This may have been owing 

 to their having gradually given way to better kinds ; but, in the opinion 

 of Mr. Knight, it is rather to be ascribed to an expenditure of their 

 vital principle. This distinguished physiologist is of opinion, that no 

 varieties of fruit trees are capable of remaining in perfection beyond a 

 limited number of years : he thinks that after that period they suffer 

 from the debility attendant upon old age, and that, although their 

 existence may be protracted by means of grafting or budding them 

 upon healthy stocks, yet that in the end they will entirely disappear. 

 This opinion is founded upon the well-known fact, that the oldest 

 varieties of the apple are now the most diseased, especially the cele- 

 brated golden pippin, which was formerly the common hardy cider- 

 :i|(|>lt; of the Herefordshire orchards, but which is now only preserved 

 with difficulty in gardens. But it must be remembered, that however 

 plausible this theory may be, it is open to several objections, among 

 which more especially are the following : it is not impossible that the 

 varieties alluded to by Mr. Knight were originally less hardy than 

 those now cultivated, and that their constitutions were not adapted to 

 the cold summers which generally prevail at the present epoch in 

 England, a supposition which is rendered the more probable by the 

 circumstance, that the golden pippin still flourishes in all its pristine 

 vigour in the island of Madeira. It may also be conjectured that 

 neglect was a great cause of the disappearance of the golden pippin, 

 and other kinds, from the cider orchards ; for if, as is so often the case, 

 the trees were once allowed to fall into a state of decay, then every 

 scion taken from such trees for the purpose of propagation would carry 

 iN own debility along with it; and thus a disease, acquired in the first 

 instance by neglect, would be perpetuated according to the well-known 

 laws of vegetable physiology. (See Lindley's ' Outline of the First 

 Principles of Horticulture,' p. 24, &c.) 



It is not our intention in this place to enter into any detailed account 

 of the varieties of the apple, for which we must refer our readers to 

 works treating exclusively on such subjects, especially to the ' Guide 

 to the Orchard and Kitchen Garden ; ' we shall rather confine ourselves 

 to topics of general interest, such as the selection of varieties for small 

 gardens or orchards, the modes of pruning and planting the trees, 

 keeping the fruit when gathered, and propagation. 



England is celebrated for the excellence of its cider ; a beverage 

 which perhaps acquires its highest degree of excellence in Hereford- 

 shire, and the neighbouring counties. In those districts, it has been 

 found that the best varieties are the /anote/p, a worn-out sort, much 

 used for mixing with other kinds, to which it communicates strength 

 and flavour ; the red must ; the hagloe crab, which, however, is only 

 good in a dry soil, on a basis of calcareous stone, in a warm situation 

 and season ; the grange apple ; the orange pippin ; the /ores* tfyre, which 

 is supposed to produce a stronger cyder than any other, but is not a 

 good bearer ; the yellow Elliot ; the Bennett ; the Siberian Jlarrey ; 

 Stead's kernel ; the friaf, which is very hardy ; and above all, the 

 golden Harrey, or brandy apple. The specific gravity of the juice of 

 these varieties has been stated by Mr. Knight to be as follows : 



Foxwhelp . 

 Red most . 

 Hagloe crab 

 Grange 

 Orange pippin 

 Forest styre] 



.1076.1080 



. . 1064 



. 1081 



. . 1079 



. 1074 



1076-1081 



Yellow Elliot . 



Bennett 



Siberian Ilarrey 



atead'i kernel 



Friar 



Goldtn Harrey 



1076 

 1073 

 1091 

 1074 

 1073 

 108} 



Besides these, the roccayce and the Siberian liltcr-iiceet are In much 

 estimation. 



For the kitchen, the apple is certainly, of all fruits, the most useful ; 

 and perhaps it is here that its utility to man is most conspicuous, 

 because it proves, when cooked, a nutritious and wholesome food. In 

 every district there is an abundance of local varieties, which are con- 

 1 by their cultivators as of peculiar excellence. But for those 

 who are anxious to possess the kinds which have been determined by 

 comparison to be the best of all, we should recommend the following : 

 for summer use, the Kemick codlin and the Ilauctliornden ; for autumn, 

 the ll'i/ri/w/'-// /<'/'/<' ;md the Alfriston ; for winter and spring, the 

 lietlfordiliii ."I'tlni'i. l>r. II, in-ey, Brabant Belle- 



jkur, and Graremtein ; and for drying, the Norfolk Beavfin. Of all 

 these, the Gravenstein, Alfriston, and Brabant Bellefleur are the best. 



Of table apples, the varieties are endless; but by far the greater 

 part of the local sort*, and of those commonly cultivated, is of only 

 second-rate quality. The finest variety of all is the Cvrnia/i i/il/ijlnim- ; 

 nit other equals this in excellence, but it is unfortunately a bad bearer. 

 Of those which combine productiveness and healthiness with the 

 highest quality, the six following must be considered the best : </nlili n 

 Surrey, aid nonpareil,, UiMarifs pearmaln, Jtibitim pippin, Dutch mig- 

 aonne, Onurt of Wirl: Finally, the best selection that could be made 

 for a small garden, so as to obtain a constant succession of fruit from 



the earliest to the latest season, would be the following, which are 

 enumerated in their order of ripening, the first being fit for \ise in 

 June, and the last keeping till the end of April. 



White Jnneating. 

 Early Red Margaret. 

 White Astrachan. 

 Sugar-loaf pippin. 

 Borovitsky. 

 Oslin. 



Summer golden pippin. 

 Summer Thorle. 

 Duchess of Oldenburgh. 

 Wormsley pippin. 

 Kerry pippin. 

 Yellow Ingestrie. 

 Gravenstein. 

 Autumn pearmain. 

 Golden reinette. 



King of the pippins 

 Ribeton pippin. 



Fearn's pippin. 

 Court of Wick. 

 Golden Harvey. 

 Golden pippin. 

 Beachamwell. 

 Adam's pearmain. 

 Pennington's seedling. 

 Hughes's golden pippin. 

 Cornish gilliflower. 

 Dutch mignonne.- 

 Reinette du Canada. 

 Skye-house russet. 

 Brnddick's nonpareil. 

 Old nonpareil. 

 Court-pendu plat. 

 Lamb- Abbey pearmain. 

 Newtown pippin. 



In pruning the apple-tree, as indeed in all similar cases, three objects 

 are chiefly kept in view ; the first of which is to remove superfluous, 

 or excessively vigorous shoots ; the second is to admit light and air to 

 all parts equally ; and the third is to check exuberance, and thus to 

 promote fruitfulness. The mode of proceeding in the two first cases 

 is so obvious as not to require explanation ; for the third, a few simple 

 rules will suffice. As the apple is a tree of very hardy habits, if its 

 branches are allowed to go unpruned, they will not produce any con- 

 siderable number of lateral shoots, but will have a great tendency to 

 keep lengthening from their terminal buds, which always produce 

 barren and vigorous shoots ; it is the lateral shoots only that are 

 fertile, and they are so only when stunted, or in the state of what are 

 technically called spvrs. The mode of procedure is then obviously to 

 destroy the terminal barren shoots, and to encourage the lateral fertile 

 ones. This is effected by shortening back all the leading shoots every 

 year, to a distance from their point of origin, which varies according 

 to their strength : where they are very strong, the leading shoots 

 should not be reduced more than within twelve or fifteen inches of 

 their base, but when they are weaker, -they may be cut to within nine 

 inches. By this means the onward growth of the branch is moment- 

 arily arrested ; the ascending sap is impelled into the lateral buds, 

 which are thus developed, and form branches, some of which will be 

 sure to grow so slowly as to become productive ; for notwithstanding 

 the check the branch may receive from the amputation, it will after a 

 little while again lengthen by means of the bud nearest its extremity, 

 and this latter will then grow so fast as effectually to hinder the new 

 lateral shoots from acquiring much vigour. Of the lateral shoots then 

 obtained, some will be required to form new branches, others will be 

 preserved for fruiting, and others will at once become fruit spurs ; the 

 first will be treated as those from which they sprang, the second are 

 to be cut down to within an inch of the bottom, which will generally 

 cause the surrounding eyes to form fruit spurs ; the third will be left 

 until they have borne fruit, when they are cut out so as to leave only 

 a single bud behind. In all cases, the fruit spxtrs, which, like the 

 leading branches, have a tendency to lengthen, should have that 

 tendency stopped by being cut back to the length of about three 

 niches. 



Apple-trees are trained in the form either of standards, dwarfs, 

 espaliers, or balloons. 



No particular care is requisite in the management of standards 

 beyond providing them with a straight stem six feet high, and a head 

 consisting of three or four healthy shoots to commence with; and 

 afterwards keeping the branches so pruned that they do not chafe 

 against each other in windy weather, nor overshadow each other ; all 

 the rest is generally provided for sufficiently by nature herself. They 

 are principally employed in planting orchards, being now seldom 

 admitted into good gardens. As these orchards are of inestimable 

 value to the farmer and the peasant, the best mode of planting them 

 cannot be too generally understood : we therefore select, from many 

 others, the following method recommended by Mr. Knight. " Let a 

 soil of good quality be selected for a nursery, which should be trenched 

 eighteen inches deep, and planted with seedling crab stocks of one year 

 old, each plant being placed at the distance of six feet from the others. 

 These will be fit for grafting at two years old ; and an acre of ground, 

 thus planted, will contain about 1500 trees, and, consequently, enough 

 to plant about forty acres, where each tree stands at twelve yards 

 distance from others. A nursery thus planted, when the trees are 

 seven or eight years old from the seed, will form a more productive 

 orchard than can be obtained by any other means with which I am 

 acquainted ; and during the earlier periods of the growth of the trees, 

 they will be rather benefited than injured if the ground be planted 

 with potatoes, or other low-growing crops, with proper manure. 

 During the growth of the trees in the nursery, they should not be 

 pruned to single stems, without leaves, as is usually done in nurseries, 

 but each should retain many small lateral branches, which will tend to 

 make the young trees grow strong and taper in their stems, and will 

 afford much fruit whilst the trees are very young. I would recom- 

 mend the Downton pippin for an experiment of this kind, in preference 

 to any other variety. 



