THE APPLE. 



S23 



increased considerably when Henry II. man-ied 

 the daughter of the duke of Aquitaine ; and after 

 the kings of England subsequently became pos- 

 sessed of some of tlie great wine provinces of 

 France, the consumption of their produce was 

 almost universal. About the middle of the six- 

 teenth century, although no wines were per- 

 mitted to exceed the price of twelve-pence per 

 gallon, we find a law enacted, by which no per- 

 son, except those who could expend a hundred 

 marks annually, or were of noble birth, should 

 keep in his house any vessel of wine exceeding 

 ten gallons — a regulation which would suggest 

 that the demand for wine was greater than the 

 supply, owing probably to the increase of the 

 middle ranks of society. In the year 1G35, we 

 find a patent granted to Francis Chamberlayne, 

 for making wine from the dried grapes of Spain 

 and Portugal; and the patentee set forth that 

 his wines would keep good during several years, 

 and even in a voj'age under the line. 



Cider became a genei-al beverage before the 

 time of Charles II., though it had been partially 

 used for nearly a century before. Gerard, who 

 published his Herball about tlie close of Eliza- 

 beth's reign, says, in his quaint way, " I have 

 seen, about the pastures and hedgerows of a wor- 

 shipful gentleman's dwelling, two miles from 

 Hereford, called Mr Roger Badnome, so many 

 trees of all sortes, that the servants drink, for 

 the most part, no other drink but that which is 

 made of apples. The qualitie is such, that, by 

 the report of the gentleman himselfe, the parson 

 hath for tythe many hogsheads of cyder." 



We have already alluded to the great number 

 of varieties of the apple. These have gone on 

 increasing with the increased zeal and industry 

 of modern gardeners. In 1573 Tusser mentions, 

 in his list of fruits, " apples of all sorts." Par- 

 kinson, in 1629, enumerates fifty-seven sorts. 

 Evelyn, about thirty years afterwards, says, "It 

 was through the plain industry of one Harris, a 

 fniiterer to Henry VIII., that the fields and en- 

 virons of about thirty towns in Kent only were 

 planted with fruit from Flanders, to the univer- 

 sal benefit and general improvement of the coun- 

 try. In 1650, Hartlib speaks of " one who had 

 two hundred sorts of apples," and " verily be- 

 lieves there are nearly five hundred sorts in this 

 island." Ray, in 1688, selected from the infor- 

 mation of the most skilful gardeners about Lon- 

 don a list of seventy-eight sorts. Succeeding 

 writers have been enabled greatly to increase the 

 list, partly from the almost continual accession 

 of sorts received from the continent during in- 

 tervals of peace, but principally from the gi'eat 

 number reared from seeds. The second edition of 

 the Catalogue of Fruits, published by the horti- 

 cultural society of London in 1831, contains the 

 names of 1400 sorts of apples; and although 

 some of these may, when fruited, X'rove synony- 



mous, yet the accession of new collections within 

 the seasons of 1832 and 1833, would doubtless 

 extend the number of distinct sorts beyond 

 1500. 



A variety of the apple, like that of most other 

 plants, is supposed by some to have only a 

 limited duration; and hence, on looking back 

 on the lists of Parkinson, Evelyn, and other 

 authors, many of the varieties then numbered 

 are not now to be found, or are so degenerated or 

 diseased as no longer to deserve the attention of 

 the planter. Thus the moil, and its successful 

 I'ival tlie redstreak, with the musts and golden 

 pippin, are in the last stage of decay, and the 

 stine and fox whelp are hastening rapidly after 

 them. This circumstance has given rise to a 

 curious physiological speculation. Mr Knight, 

 after studying the subject, and making a great 

 variety of experiments for several years, and at- 

 tempts to propagate every old variety, arrives at 

 the following result : " I think," saj-s he, " I 

 am justified in the conclusion, that all plants of 

 this species, however propagated, from the same 

 stock, partake in some degree of the same life, 

 and will attend the progress of that life in the 

 habits of its youth, its maturity, and its decay, 

 though they will not be any way affected by any 

 incidental injuries the parent tree may sustain 

 after they are detached from it." This rather 

 fanciful opinion has not been confirmed by other 

 horticulturists; on the contrary, several emi- 

 nent writers consider that the deterioration of 

 the varieties of the apple and other fruits may 

 be owing to climate, and that the return of ge- 

 nial summers would restore to us from old trees 

 as good fruit as heretofore. Loudon remarks on 

 this subject: "It is unquestionably true that 

 all varieties have a tendency to degenerate into 

 the primitive character of the species; but to ua 

 it appears equally true, that any variety may be 

 perpetuated with all its excellencies by proper 

 culture, and more especially varieties of trees. 

 However unsuccessful Knight may have been in 

 continuing the moil, redstreak, and golden pip- 

 pin, we cannot alter our conviction, that by 

 grafting from these sorts they may be continued, 

 such as they are or were when the scions were 

 taken from the trees, to the end of time. As to 

 plants propagated by extension, 'partaking in 

 some degree of the same period of life as the 

 parent,' we cannot admit the idea as at all pro- 

 Ijable. Vines, olives, poplars, and willows, have 

 been propagated by extension for ages, and are 

 still, as far as can be ascertained, as vigorous as 

 they were in the time of Noah or Pliny." * 



In enumerating a few of the most approved 

 varieties of the apple, we shall class them as 

 they are suited for the dessert, for the kitchen, for 

 cider making, or for cottage economy. 



* Enry. of Gardening. 



