THE MEDLAR 77 



Within a few years of Shakespeare's time it was 

 certainly the practice to graft the Medlar upon a 

 Hawthorn stock, for Cowley writes of man that 



"He does the savage Hawthorn teach 

 To bear the Medlar and the Pear ; 

 He bids the rustic Plum to rear 

 A noble trunk and be a Peach." 



Shakespeare was, as we have seen, following Chaucer 

 and many others of his predecessors and contempor- 

 aries in speaking of the " bletting " of the Medlar as 

 rotting. Green fruit, when growing, behaves physiolo- 

 gically like leaves, taking in considerable quantities of 

 carbon-dioxide from the air, and giving off oxygen ; but 

 when growth ceases and ripening begins this is reversed. 

 Carbon-dioxide and water are given off, oxygen is taken 

 in, the temperature rises, tannin and acids are formed ; 

 and there may be some softening of texture. At this 

 stage many fruits are eatable, and are considered ripe ; 

 for, as in the eating of freshly killed or " hung " meat, 

 fish, or game, there is undoubtedly a certain amount of 

 conventional taste or fashion as to the exact stage at 

 which each kind of fruit is best fitted to be eaten. The 

 Japanese, for instance, always eat peaches in a con- 

 dition that we should consider unripe, and think those 

 that we call ripe to be rotten. At a subsequent stage 

 more oxygen is absorbed, and first the astringent tannin 

 and afterwards the malic, citric, tartaric, and other 

 fruit acids disappear, whilst the proportion of sugar 

 increases. Further softening - occurs at this stage, and 

 there may be a change of colour, both internally and 

 externally. This is " bletting," and it is, no doubt, 

 mainly because the change of the pale greenish or 



