THE APPLE. 225 



and it is probable that the occasional natural union 

 of the bou<?hs of distinct trees may have shewn the 

 general practicability of the other. Pliny mentions 

 apple-trees " that will honour the first grafters for 

 ever ;" and this enthusiastic sort of praise at any rate 

 belongs to the infancy of an art, when mankind are 

 first conscious of its blessings, and therefore not 

 disposed to undervalue them through their familiarity. 

 To the facility of multiplying varieties by grafting, is 

 to be ascribed the amazing extension of the sorts of 

 apple, probably from one common stock. The va- 

 rieties at present known are considerably more than 

 a thousand. Of late years these varieties have been 

 increased in a remarkable manner, by the application 

 of the pollen* of one sort to the blossom of another. 

 Many of the better sorts of English apples were 

 probably at first introduced into this country from 

 the continent. The greater part of our names of 

 aj)ples are French, either pure or corrupted. Those 

 varieties which had been celebrated abroad were 

 spread through the kingdom by their cultivation in 

 the gardens of the religious houses ; and many of 

 these fine old sorts still exist. Thus the Nonpareil, 

 according to the old herbalists, was brought from 

 France by a Jesuit in the time of Queen Mary, and 

 first planted in the gardens of Oxfordshire. The 

 Oslin, or Arbroath pippin, an ancient Scotch variety, 

 w as either introduced or extensively cultivated by the 

 monks of the abbey of Aberbrothwick. On the other 

 hand, the celebrated Golden Pippin has been con- 

 sidered as the native growth of England ; and 

 noticed as such by French and Dutch writers. It is 

 described by Duhamel under the name of " Pomme 

 d'Or ; Reinette d'Angleterre." The same celebrated 



• The prolific powder coatained in the anther of the flower. 



X 



