106 FRUIT BANK EXCELLENT FOR RIBSTONS. 



would certainly take all that they can get. Yet 

 judging by the hot summer of '26, when the 

 fruit attained a size and flavour little known in our 

 northern climate, I should not much fear the roast- 

 ing of either apples or pears by such method of cul- 

 tivation. On this sunny bank one place at least 

 should be reserved for the Ribston pippin, the chief 

 of the apple race, but whose virtues cannot be eli- 

 cited without plenty of warmth. 



It has long been observed that the Ribston as a 

 tree thrives better in the orchard or in the espalier 

 rows than on the best wall, but then the fruit, not 

 sufficiently ripened, soon shrivels, eats tough, and 

 does not acquire the genuine flavour. On the other 

 hand, where the fruit is in the best circumstances 

 for ripening, the wood seems to be in the worst ; 

 for on the wall the leaves are generally blighted, 

 and the fruit is in consequence destroyed. It is 

 probable, as this evil does not occur to the standard 

 or espalier Ribston, that it is prevented by the 

 natural washing and cooling of showers and dew. 

 Hence the combined advantages of the above expo- 

 sure, by which the leaves get all the rains of the 

 orchard, and the fruit more than the heat of the 

 wall. 



Standard trees is a term which does not signify 

 such as come up to a certain pitch of excellence, as 

 when we say a standard book, but such as have one 

 great quality, namely, the independence of standing 

 on their own legs, without requiring either to lean 

 against a wall or to have supports under their arms. 



