CHAP. XLII. .ROSA N CE;E. PY V RUS. 895 



from Media, the country from which apple trees were first brought into Greece; 

 but Secklcr 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. j 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 North 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 Ib. to 66 Ib. 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 dcs Forets ; 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 hitter purpose it \vas 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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