THE APPLE 39 
time and place—not too early, and away from the 
overshadowing of its parent tree, so that it may have 
a good start for success in the struggle for existence. 
If we have wet weather during the forty days at the 
end of July and in August traditionally connected 
with the Translation of Swithin, sainted Bishop of 
Winchester, whose feast is July 15th, the Apples 
will have the means of becoming large and juicy 
before they ripen. 
Though it is impossible here even to enumer- 
ate the chief cultivated kinds of Apple, it may be 
noted that botanists distinguish two varieties of 
wild English Crabs: Pyrus Malus acerba D.C., 
the commoner, having the young branches, calyx- 
tube, and under side of the leaf smooth and the 
fruit drooping, and P. M. mitis Wallr., having the 
same parts downy and the fruit erect. 
The unripe fruits of the wild Apple are used in 
the manufacture of verjuice, now chiefly made in 
France, which, when fermented and sweetened, makes 
a pleasant drink; but in the sixteenth century the 
fruit was in more esteem than it now is. Christmas 
was then the season 
“When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,” 
they being served in hot ale; nor was this from any 
want of cultivated Apples. Even Pliny speaks of 
twenty-two varieties; and Shakespeare mentions, 
besides the Crab, the Pippin, the Pomewater, the 
Apple-john, the Codling, the Carraway, the Leathercoat, 
and the Bitter-sweeting; whilst his contemporary, 
Gerard, says that in his time “the stocke or kindred 
