G88 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 



the various wines which may be made from the juices of fruits, are acceptable offerings 

 to the social circle, when made in the best manner, and form important articles of com- 

 merce. We shall aiTange the Hardy Fruits as — 



4362. Kernel-Fruits or Pomes ; including the apple, pear, quince, medlar, service. 



4363. Stone- Fruits ; as the peach, nectarine, almond, apricot, plumb, and cherry. 



4364. Berries ; as the mulberry, barberry, elderberry, gooseberry, currant, raspberry, cranberry, and 

 strawberry. 



4365. Nuts ; as the walnut, chestnut,.filbert. 



4366. Native and neglected Hardy Fruits, deserving cultivation, or useful in domestic economy, as the 

 sloe, bird-cherry, wild service, mountain ash, bilberry, &c. 



4367. The varieties of most of these fruits are so numerous, and each described as 

 having so many good qualities, that the inexperienced selector may well be puzzled in 

 making a choice, even from the comparatively limited lists which we have prepared for 

 the following sections. When to all the names in these lists, and those of the nursery- 

 men, we add the numerous new names annually brought forward by the Horticultural 

 Societies of this country and of France, the difficulty of selection seems insuperably in- 

 creased. The experienced and well informed gardener will be able to find out his way 

 in this labyrinth ; but what are others to do ? We would say, as a prudent mode, con- 

 sult the selections recommended by eminent practical men ; as Abercrombie, M'Phail, 

 Forsyth, Nicol, Macdonald, &c. which we have given in this chapter, and also in those 

 on planting the kitchen-garden and orchard. (2498. and 2527.) There are probably not 

 half so many distinct sorts, as there are names in use ; and of that half, most likely 

 two thirds are not worth cultivating. Of most of the sorts originated from seed, sufficient 

 time has not elapsed to judge of their merits ; they are all described as good ; but un- 

 questionably many of them are worth little in comparison with the best old sorts. Some of 

 the new cherries and peaches might be adduced as examples ; and the Poonah grape, lately 

 imported, from the East Indies, and stated to be a valuable addition to our gardens" [Hort. 

 Trans, iv. 517.), has been in the country (in the Brompton Nursery, for example), for an 

 unknown length of time, under a different name. It is one of the worst descriptions of 

 raisin grapes, with a small elliptical berrj-^, having little flesh, juice, or flavor. — We 

 make these remarks not to discourage from originating or importing new fruits ; nor to 

 dissuade from choosing new sorts ; but to guard the inexperienced against being led 

 away by names and appearances. The Horticultural Society are doing much to illus- 

 trate the subject of fruits, and in a few years they will no doubt settle a nomenclature, 

 and determine the merits of all the fruits now in Europe, or perhaps the world. 



Sect. I. Kernel-Fruits. 



4368. The principal hardy liernel-finiits are the apple and pear, too well known 

 for their important uses to require any eulogium. In this section are also included 

 the quince, medlar, and service. 



SuBSECT. 1. Ajyple. — Pyrus Malus, L. {Eng. Bot. 179.) Icos. Di-Pentag. L. and 

 Rosacea, J. Pomme, Fr. ; A]fel, Ger. ; and Porno or Melo, Ital. 



4369. The apple is a spreading tree with the branches more horizontal than in the pear- 

 tree ; the leaves ovate ; the flowers in terminating umbels, produced from the wood of the 

 former year ; but more generally from very short shoots or spurs from wood of two years* 

 growth. The fruit is roundish, umbilicate at the base, and of an acid flavor. In its wild 

 state, it is termed the crab, and is then armed with thorns, with smaller leaves, flowers, and 

 fruit, and the pulp of the latter extremely acid. It is a native of most countries of Europe 

 in its wild state ; and the improved varieties form an important branch of culture in Britain, 

 France, Germany, and America, for the kitchen, the table, and for the manufacture of cider 

 From whence we at first received the cultivated apple is unknown ; but in all probability it 

 was introduced by the Romans, to whom twenty- two varieties were kno\\Ti in Pliny's time 

 (52.), and afterwards the stock of varieties greatly increased at the Norman conquest. 

 According to Stow, carp and pepins were brought into England by Mascal, who wrote on 

 fruit-trees in 1572. The apple-tree is supposed by some to attain a great age. Haller men- 

 tions some trees in Herefordsliire that attained a thousand years, and were highly prolific ; 

 but Knight considers two hundred years as the ordinary duration of a healthy tree, grafted 

 on a crab-stock, and planted in a strong tenacious soil. Speechly (Hints, 58.) mentions 

 a tree in an orchard at Burton-joyce, near Nottingham, of about sixty years old, with 

 branches extending from seven to nine yards round the bole, which, in 1792, produced 

 upwards of 100 pecks of apples. Of all the different fruits which are produced in 

 Britain, none can be brought to so high a degree of perfection, with so little ti-ouble ; and 

 of no other are there so many excellent varieties in general cultivation, calculated for 

 almost every soil, situation, and climate, which our island affords. Very good apples are 

 grown in the Highlands and Orkneys, and even in the Shetland Isles, (Caled. Hort. 

 Mem. vol. ii. ) as well as in Devonshire and Cornwall ; some sorts are ripe in the be- 



