THE, MEDLAR WT 
Within a few years of Shakespeare’s time it was 
certainly the practice to graft the Medlar upon a 
Hawthorn stock, for Cowley writes of man that 
‘*He does the savage Hawthorn teach 
To bear the Medlar and the Pear; 
He bids the rustic Plum to rear 
A noble trunk and be a Peach.” 
Shakespeare was, as we have seen, following Chaucer 
and many others of his predecessors and contempor- 
aries in speaking of the “ bletting” of the Medlar as 
rotting. Green fruit, when growing, behaves physiolo- 
gically like leaves, taking in considerable quantities of 
carbon-dioxide from the air, and giving off oxygen ; but 
when growth ceases and ripening begins this is reversed, 
Carbon-dioxide and water are given off, oxygen is taken 
in, the temperature rises, tannin and acids are formed ; 
and there may be some softening of texture. At this 
stage many fruits are eatable, and are considered ripe; 
for, as in the eating of freshly killed or “ hung” meat, 
fish, or game, there is undoubtedly a certain amount of 
conventional taste or fashion as to the exact stage at 
which each kind of fruit is best fitted to be eaten. The 
Japanese, for instance, always eat peaches in a con- 
dition that we should consider unripe, and think those 
that we call ripe to be rotten. Ata subsequent stage 
more oxygen is absorbed, and first the astringent tannin 
and afterwards the malic, citric, tartaric, and other 
fruit acids disappear, whilst the proportion of sugar 
increases. Further softening occurs at this stage, and 
there may be a change of colour, both internally and 
externally. This is “bletting,” and it is, no doubt, 
mainly because the change of the pale greenish or 
