ROSACEA. 250 



Tliis is sometimes done on Twelfth Night as well as on Cliristmas-eve. The ceromon^ 

 (lillers somewlmt in difl'ereut districts, occasionally having the addition of numerous 

 little fires being lighted on the orchard-gi-ound during the performance. The \\'as«ail- 

 bowl of our ancestors, which formed a part of all their festivals, was composed of ale, 

 sugar, nutmeg, and roasted ai)ples, which every person partook of, each one taking au 

 apple out of the bowl and drinking the liquor. Sometimes the roasted apples were 

 bruised and mixed with milk or white wine instead of ale. The custom of putting 

 roasted apples into ale is recognized by Shakespeare, where Puck is describing his 

 feats : — 



" Sometimes I lurk in a gossip's bowl. 



In very likeness of a roasted crab ; 



And when she drinks, against her lips I bob^ 



And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale." 



The custom of bobbing for apples on All-Hallow E'en and on All Saints' Day was once 

 common in England, and is now practised in some parts of Ireland, and exists in modi- 

 fied forms in Scotland and in various counties in England. Poets have sung the praises 

 of the Apple-tree, and we cannot help quoting a few lines from Philips and from 

 Thomson, the lover of nature in her various garbs : — 



" The pippin l)urnish'd o'er with gold ; the moyle 

 Of sweetest honied taste ; the fair pearmain, 

 Temper'd, like coraeliest nymph, with white and red." 



Of Apple-gathering Thomson says : — 



" The fragrant stores, the wide projected heaps 

 Of Apples, which the lusty-handed year 

 Innumerous o'er the blushing orchard shakes, 

 A various spirit, fresh, delicious, keen, 

 Dwells in their gelid pores ; and active points 

 The piercing cider for the thirsty tongue." 



Philips, in 1706, published a poem in praise of the " Herefordian plane," as he 

 calls it, and speaks of 



" John Apple, whose withered rind intreucht 

 With many a furrow, aptly represents decrepid age." 



A description which accounts for Falstaff's anger at the sight of the fruit: "Thou 

 know'st Sir John cannot endure an Apple John. The Prince once set a dish of Ajjple 

 Johns before him, and told him there were five more Sir Johns, and ])utting oS his hat 

 said, / tmll iwv) take my leave of these six dry^ round, old withered knvjlUs. It angered 

 him to the heart." 



The acid produced by the Apple is the same as that of the Pear, and is of the 

 same chemical value. Lately, the quantity of cider made in some districts has dimi- 

 nished, owing to the fact of whole orchards of Apples being purchased for mauutacturing 

 and dyeing jnirposes. 



The Wild Apple-tree is the badge of the Highland clau Lamout. 



