120 THE FKUIT MANUAIi. 



A cider apple, which at one period was unsurpassed, but now com- 

 paratively but little cultivated. 



Perhaps there is no apple which at any period created such a sensation, and of 

 which so much was said and written during the 17th century, as of the Red Streak. 

 Prose and verse were both enlisted in its favour. It was chiefly by the writings of 

 Evelyn it attained its greatest celebrity. Philips, in his poem, Cyder, says— 



" Let every tree in every garden own 

 Tlie Red Streak as supreme, whose pulpous fruit, 

 With gold irradiate, and vermilion, shines 

 Tempting, not fatal, as the birth of that 

 Priina3val, interdicted plant, that won 

 Fond Eve, in hapless hour to taste, and die. 

 This, of more bounteous influence, inspires 

 Poetic raptures, and the lowly muse 

 Kindles to loftier strains ; even I, perceive 

 Her sacred virtue. See ! the numbers flow 

 Easy, whilst, cheer'd with her nectaxeous juice, 

 Her's, and my country's praises, I exalt." 



But its reputation began to decline about the beginning of the last century, for we 

 find Nourse saying, " As for the liquor which it yields, it is highly esteemed for its 

 noble colour and smell ; 'tis likewise fat and oily in the ta^te, but withal very 

 windy, luscious, and fulsome, and will sooner clog the stomach than any other cider 

 whatsoever, leaving a waterish, raw humour upon it ; so that with meals it is 

 no way helpful, and they who drink it, if I may judge of them by my own palate, 

 will find their stomachs pall'd sooner by it, than warm'd and enliven'd." 



The Red Streak seems to have originated about the beginning of the 17th century, 

 for Evelyn says "'it was within the memory of some now living sumamed the 

 Scudamore's Crab, and then not much known save in the neighbourhood." It was 

 called Scudamore's Crab, from being extensively planted by the first Lord Scuda- 

 more, who was son of Sir James Scudamore, from whom Spencer is said to have 

 taken the character of Sir Scudamore in his " Fairie Queen." He was bom in 

 1600, and created by Charles I. Baron Dtomore and Viscount Scudamore. He , 

 was attending the Duke of Buckingham when he was stabbed at Portsmouth, and 

 was so affected at the event that he retired into private life, and devoted his 

 attention to planting orchards, of which the Red Streak formed the principal 

 variety. In 1634 he was sent as ambassador to France, in which capacity he con- 

 tinued for four years. He was a zealous Royalist during the civil wars, and was 

 taken prisoner by the Parliament party, while his property was destroyed, and his 

 estate sequestered. He died in 1671. 



BED STEEAKED KAWLING.—Fruit, large, three inches wide 

 by two and a quarter deep ; roundish, and slightly angular. Skin, 

 yellow, streaked with red on the shaded side, but entirely covered 

 with clear dark red, and striped with still darker red, on the side 

 exposed to the sun. Eye, small and closed, set in a narrow and 

 plaited basin. Stalk, long and slender, inserted in a wide and deep 

 cavity, which is lined with russet. Flesh, yellowish, tender, sweet, 

 juicy, and well flavoured, abounding in a sweet and pleasant juice. 



A culioary apple, well adapted for sauce ; it is in use from October 

 to Christmas. 



This is an old Devonshire apple, and no doubt the Sweet Rmoling referred to 

 lu a communication to one of Bradley's " Monthly Treatises," from which the 

 following IS an extract. " We have an apple in this country called a Rawling, 

 of which there is a sweet and a sour ; the sour when ripe (which is very earlv) is a 

 very fair large fruit, and of a plensant taste, inclined to a golden colour full of 

 narrow red streaks ; the Sweet Rawling has the same colours but not quite so 

 large, and if boiled grows hard, whereas the sour becomes soft. Now what 1 have 



