896 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM, PART III. 



certain evergreens, such as the balm of Gilead and several other firs, the 

 points of the leading shoots of which are liable to be destroyed by the frosts 

 of April and May, are always sown under old apple and pear trees. The crab 

 is used as a stock for the cultivated apple, and for all the other species and 

 varieties of this division of the genus; but, as we have before observed, it will 

 not serve as a stock for the pear, or any of the plants included in that, or the 

 other divisions of Pyrus. In France, and also in some parts of Germany, the 

 thorny wild apple, or crab, is formed into live hedges, the branches of which, 

 according to Agricola, are inarched into each other, in order to give them 

 more strength to resist cattle. The fruit of the crab, in the forests of France, 

 is a great resource for the wild boar ; and it is also given in that country to 

 swine and cows. A drink of it, called boisson, is made in some parts of 

 France, as well as in England ; and verjuice is a well-known description of 

 vinegar, produced from the most austere of the fruit. The bark affords a 

 yellow dye; and the leaves are eaten by horses, cows, sheep, and goats. 

 Pomatum, according to Gerard, was so called from its being anciently made 

 of the pulp of apples beaten up with "swine's grease" (lard) and rose-water. 



The uses of the apple as an eatable fruit are very numerous. Apples are 

 equally good for the kitchen and the dessert; and they are not only used in 

 various dishes by themselves, but enter into numerous combinations with 

 other fruits. In confectionery, apple jelly forms a most beautiful medium for 

 preserving Siberian crabs, and many other kinds of fruit; and dried apples 

 (beaufins) are prepared in great numbers in Norfolk, by drying them slowly 

 in bakers' ovens after the bread has been drawn, and occasionally taking them 

 out and pressing them with the hand to flatten them, till they are perfectly soft, 

 and of a rich deep brown, when they are considered fit for the London market. 

 Medicinally, apples are reckoned particularly cooling, and excellent in all inflam- 

 matory disorders; and apple-water is a most refreshing drink in fevers. In France, 

 a kind of jam, or rob, called raisine, (see p. 898.) is prepared by boiling apples in 

 new wine. A kind of wine is also made from apples, with water and sugar, in 

 the same manner as other fruit wines are made in Britain. Apple wine, how- 

 ever, as Phillips observes, is by no means equal to the cider made from golden 

 pippins, from which a spirit is extracted equal to brandy for preserving fruit, 

 or mixing in made wines or liquors. {Pom. Brit., p. 55.) A liquor is made by 

 distillation from cider, in North America, which is called cider brandy; and 

 a very strong spirit is obtained by allowing the cider to freeze, and then 

 drawing off the part that remains in a fluid state, and which, of course, contains 

 all the alcohol. The Americans also make a liquor, which they call pomona 

 wine, by adding 1 gallon of brandy to 6 of new cider after it is racked off. 

 " This, when 8 or 12 months' old, is a very good substitute for wine." {Encyc. 

 Amer., vol. i. p. 308.) 



Cider. The most celebrated counties in England for making cider are, Here- 

 fordshire, Worcestershire, and Devonshire; and the cider of the two former 

 counties is esteemed much the best. Worcestershire, we are told by Dr. 

 Nash, as quoted in Pitt's Survey of Worcestershire, p. 149., was famous for its 

 fruit trees even in the time of Henry III. ; but Herefordshire, though it con- 

 tains many very old apple and pear trees, and has some very old cider 

 orchards planted in the reign of Henry VIII., was not generally considered 

 as a fruit country till the time of Charles I., in the first part of whose reign 

 " orcharding," as it was called, became general throughout the county. {Here- 

 fordshire Report, p. 79.) At this period, Evelyn tells us, " by the noble 

 exertions of Lord Scudamore, of Hom-Lacey," and other gentlemen. Here- 

 fordshire became, in a manner, "one entire orchard." {Pomona, fol. London, 

 ]<)!'.).) It is a remarkable feature in the Herefordshire and Worcestershire 

 orchards, that the ground is always cropped under the trees; it being 

 a maxim, in the former county, that an " orchard is generally raised with most 

 success, and at least expense, in a hop yard; the ground under this culture 

 being always well tilled and manured, as well as fenced against every kind of 

 enemy." (Herefordshire Report, p,83.) 



