528 THE APPLE. 



particularly valuable for forming sauces to geese early in the season, 

 and for succeeding the gooseberry in tarts. For cider an apple must 

 possess a considerable degree of astririgency, with or without firm- 

 ness of pulp or sugariness of juice. The best kinds, Knight ob- 

 serves, are often tough, dry, and fibrous ; and the Siberian Harvey, 

 which he recommends as one of the very best cider apples, is unfit 

 either for culinary purposes or the table. The same eminent pomo- 

 logist has found that the specific gravity of the juice of any apple re- 

 cently expressed, indicates, with very considerable accuracy, the strength 

 of the future cider. 



Varieties. The varieties of apple in cultivation previous to the time 

 of Henry VIII. do not appear to have been numerous ; but Evelyn 

 informs us, that Harris, the fruiterer to that monarch, introduced many 

 sorts of apples and other fruits from Flanders, and distributed them in 

 the neighbourhood of thirty towns in Kent only, to the great and uni- 

 versal improvement of .this fruit. In the time of Charles L, Lord 

 Scudamore introduced a number of cider apples from Normandy into 

 Herefordshire. Hartlib, during the Commonwealth, in 1650, " believes 

 there are nearly 500 sorts in this island." Some were introduced from 

 Holland in the time of William III., and the number would doubtless 

 gradually increase till the commencement of the present century, when 

 it has been greatly enlarged by the growing taste for gardening, and 

 the great stimulus given by Mr. Knight to raising new fruits from 

 seed. The Horticultural Society of London have collected varieties of 

 fruit from every part of the world, and the number of sorts of apples, 

 that have been proved in their gardens to be distinct, is believed to be 

 nearly 1500; the number of names exceeding twice that amount, 

 many varieties having more than one name. Thousands of seedlings 

 also exist, of more or less merit, without names. The great difficulty, 

 where the choice is so ample, is to make a selection, and this, with the 

 assistance of the late Mr. Thomson, of Chiswick perhaps the best 

 practical pomologist in Europe and other authorities, combined with 

 our own experience, we have endeavoured to make as useful, com- 

 plete, and choice as possible. 



Early Dessert Apples, ripening from July to September. 



Early Red Margaret, Early Harvest, Early Strawberry, Oslin, 

 Kerry Pippin, Summer Golden Pippin, Irish Peach, Red Quarrenden, 

 Early Shrewsbury, Reinette Jaune, Hative, White Juneating, Chromatic 

 Beauty, Red Astrachan. 



Dessert Apples to succeed Early Kinds, in season from October 

 to December. 



Wormsley Pippin, King of the Pippins, Golden Reinette, Silver or 

 Pine Russet, Cellini, Pine Golden Pippin, Mother Apple, Fearn's 

 Pippin, Margil, Red Ingestrie, Golden Reinette, Early Nonpareil, 

 Stamford Pippin, Sam Young, Adam's Pearmaiu, Cox's Orange 

 Pippin. 



