53 



these are exceptionally good yields, and 

 will not do for a per acre basis. 



The experience in Worcestershire is, 

 that eai'ly apples pay best, as they crop 

 more regularly than late apples and do 

 not meet the competition of Colonial 

 apples, the loss of stored apples through 

 waste, sweating, and evaporation is esti- 

 mated at 20 per cent, in the way they are 

 generally stored, placed on the floors of 

 barns or lofts to a depth of one or more 

 feet, with occasional sorting in a rather 

 rough and ready way. 



The Blenheim Orange, for which Wor- 

 cestershire is famous, is not planted now, 

 as it takes 15 or 20 years to come into 

 bearing. This variety used to be planted 

 10 or 15 yards apart in arable or pasture 

 land ; a good tree will yield 10 pots 

 (5601bs.), well-developed trees usually 

 yield about 5 or 6 pots, but the yield de- 

 pends so much on the size of the tree and 

 the fruit that the yield may be anything 

 between 2 and 10 pots. 



GuEASE Banding. 



Grease banding to catch the " wing- 

 less " female of the Winter and March 

 moth was first thought out and practised 

 by a clergyman in Worcestershire some 

 50 years ago ; by using coal tar and pene- 

 trating greases on young trees many trees 

 throughout the country have from time to 

 time been killed; but by the use of more 

 suitable grease and grease-proof paper 

 the good practice of grease banding 

 standard and half-standard fruit trees is 

 extending, especially since a grease has 

 been introduced which keeps " tackey " 

 for a long time without having to put on 

 more. Using grease-proof paper and 

 about lOlbs. of "Tanglefoot" per acre, 

 the cost of grease banding has been esti- 



mated to cost about £1 per acre in an 

 average apple plantation. 



Cider. 



Cider, perhaps the most wholesome and 

 least to be condemned of all alcoholic 

 beverages, is a product of the apple 

 orchards, chiefly of Devon, Somerset, 

 Hereford, and Worcester. The apples 

 are grown over grass, and the trees look 

 very picturesque in spring and autumn. 

 A fair crop is 600 bushels of cider apples 

 per acre, equals 150 cwts. ." '■, 48 trees per 

 acre, equals 3 cwts. per tree, though full- 

 grown trees at their prime produce more. 



It takes a little more than 30 bushels 

 of apples to produce 100 gallons (hogs- 

 head) of pure cider. Partly diluted cider 

 such as was given to the farm men, sold 

 at 75s. per hogshead (pre war) ; nice table 

 drinking cider at £6 per hogshead; the 

 very best bottled cider fetched up to £20 

 .per hogshead, but this price is somewhat 

 exceptional. 



Afpeoxim \te Oedee of Flowering of 

 Apples Commonly Grown foe Market. 



Eitrly. — Golden Spire, Stirling Castle, 

 Bismarck, Baumann's Red Winter Rein- 

 ette, Warner's King, Ben's Red and Nor- 

 folk Beauty. 



MeJiiim. — Duchess Favourite, Scai"let 

 Nonpareil, Cox's Orange Pippin, Miller's 

 Seedling, Early Victoria, Lord Grosvenor, 

 Beauty of Bath, Worcester Pearmain, 

 Allington Pippin, James Grieve, Early 

 Julian and Rival. 



Laff. — The Queen, Lord Derby, King 

 of Pippins, Blenheim Orange, Lane's 

 Prince Albert, Grenadier, Foster's Seed- 

 ling, Bramley, Gladstone, Annie Eliza- 

 beth, Newton Wonder, King Edward VIL 

 and Graham's Royal Jubilee. 



