Book I. 



APPLE. 



689 



ginning of July, and others, which ripen later, will keep till June. Unlike other fruits, 

 those which ripen latest are the best. 



4370. Use. For pies, tarts, sauces, and the dessert, the use of the apple is familiar to every one. Diiduit, 

 of Mazeres, has found tliat one-third of boiled apple-pulp, baked with two thirds of "flour, having 

 been properly fermented with yeast for twelve hours, makes a very excellent bread, full of eyes, and ex- 

 tremely palatable and light. (jNVio Month. Mag. June 1S21.) The fermented juice forms cidcr,'a substitute 

 both for grape-wine and malt liquor. In confectionary, it is used for comfits, compotes, marmalades, 

 jellies, pastes, tarts, &c. In medicine, verjuice, or the juice of crabs, is used for sprains, and as an astrin- 

 gent and repellent : and, with a proper addition of sugar. Withering thinks a very grateful liquor might 

 be made with it, little inferior to Rlienish wine. Lightfoot affirms that the crab mixed with cultivated 

 apples, or even alone, if thoroughly ripe, will make a sound, masculine wine. The apple, when ripe, is 

 laxative; the juice is excellent in dj'sentery : boiled or roasted apples fortify a ^veak stomach. ScopolL 

 recovered from a weakness of the stomach and indigestion from using them; and they are equally eltica- 

 cious in putrid and malignant fevers with the juice of lemons or currants. In pcrfuinery, the'i)ulp of 

 apples, beat up with lard, forms pomatum : and Bosc observes (/V. Cours d' Agr/ciiltiire, &c. in loco), that 

 the prolonged stratification of apples with elder-flowers, in a close vessel, gives the former an odor of 

 musk extremely agreeable. In dyeing, the bark produces a yellow color; and, in general economy, the 

 wood of the treeis used for turning, and various purposes, where hardness, compactness, and variegation 

 of color, are objects. 



4:571. Criterion of a good apple. Apples for the table are characterised by a firm juicy pulp, elevated poig- 

 nant flavor, regular form, and beautiful coloring ; those, for kitchen use, by tlie property of falling, as it is 

 technically termed, or forming in general a pulpy mass of equal consistency, when baked or boiled, and by 

 a large size. Some sorts of apples have the property of falling when green, as the Keswick, Carlisle, Haw- 

 thornden, and other codlins ; and some only after being ripe, as tlie russet tribes. Those which have this 

 property when green, are particularly valuable for affording sauces to geese early in the season, and for 

 succeeding the gooseberry in tarts. For cider, an apple must possess a considerable degree of astringency, 

 with or without firmness'of pulp, or richness of juice. The best kinds, Knight observes, are often tough, 

 dry, and fibrous ; and the Siberian Harvey, which he recommends as one of the very best cider-apples, is 

 unfit either for culinary puqiosesor the table. Knight has found that the specific gravity of the juice of any 

 apple recently expressed, indicates, witli very considerable accuracy, the strength of the future cider. 

 Considering the various uses of the a)iple, we agree with Speechly in regarding it as a fruit " of more use 

 and benefit to the public in general, than all the other fruits, tlie produce of this island, united." 



4372. Varieties. Tusser, in 1573, mentions in his list of fruits, " apples of all sorts." Parkinson, in 

 1629, enumerates fifty-seven sorts. Evelyn, about thirty years afterwards, says {Po?>iona, pref ), " It was 

 through the plain industry of one Harris, a fruiterer to Henry VIII , that the fields and environs of about 

 thirty towns in Kent only, were planted with fruit from Flanders, to the universal benefit and general im- 

 provement of the county." G\h&on {Churches of Dove and Ho77ielacy.\ mentions that Lord Scudamore, 

 ambassador to the court of France, in the time of Charles I., collected in Normandy scions of cider-apple- 

 trees, and when he returned to England, encouraged the grafting them throughout the county of Here- 

 ford. Hartlib, in 1650, speaks of " one who had two hundred sorts of apples," and " verily believes there 

 are nearly 500 sorts in this island." Ray, in 1688, selected from the information of the most skilful gar- 

 deners about London, a list of 78 sorts. ' Succeeding writers have been enabled greatly to increase the list, 

 partlyfrom the almost continual accession of sorts received from the continent during intervals of peace, but 

 principally from the great numbers raised from seeds. A variety of apple, like those of most other plants, 

 is supposed by some to have only a limited duration ; and hence on taking a retrospective view of the lists 

 of sorts, given by Parkinson, Evelyn, and other authors, many of them are not now to be found, or are so 

 degenerated or diseased, as no longer to deserve the attention of the planter. " The moil," Knight ob- 

 serves, " and its successful rival, the red-streak, with the musts and golden-pippin, are in the last stage of 

 decay, and the stire and fo.x whelp are hastening rapidly after them." After making a great variety of ex- 

 periments for several years, and after many attempts to propagate every old variety of the apple, this au- 

 thor observes {Tr. on Apple and Pear, 15.), " I think I am justified in the conclusion, that all plants of 

 this species, however propagated from the same stock, partake in some degree of the same life, and will 

 attend the progress of that life, in the habits of its youth, its maturity, and its decay; though they will 

 not be any way affected by any incidental injuries the parent tree "may sustain after they are detached 

 from It." 



4373. Knight next directed his attention to raising new varieties from seeds, and has, by crossing one 

 sort with another, and by having constantly several thousands of seedlings rearing, from which, as they 

 show fruit, to select the best sorts, succeeded in producing several new varieties of apples, much esteemed 

 for the table and the press. Of several of these sorts, and how obtained, accounts will be found in the 

 work above quoted, and in the Horticultural Transactions, and a compend of their history and properties 

 will be found in our table {next page). Several eminent horticulturists, in different districts, are now en- 

 gaged in a similar manner ; and there can be little doubt a valuable accession will, in a few^ years, be made 

 to this class of fruits. Some, however, as Williamson {Hort. Trans, iii. 291.) and Speechly {Hints, 188.), 

 consider that the deterioration of the apple and other fruits may be owing to the climate, and that the re- 

 turn of genial summers would restore to us from old trees as good fruit as heretofore. Such also is 

 our opinion, and Knight's doctrine appears to us contrary to general analogy in vegetable life. It is 

 unquestionably true that all varieties have a tendency to degenerate into the primitive character of the 

 species ; but to us it appears equally true, that any variety may be perpetuated with all its excellencies by 

 proper culture, and more especially varieties of trees. However unsuccessful Knight may have been in con- 

 tinuing the moil, redstreak, and golden pippin, we cannot alter our conviction, that by grafting from 

 these sorts they may be continued, such as they are, or were when the scions were taken from the trees, to 

 liie end of time. As to plants propagated by e"xtension, " partaking in some degree of the same period of 

 life as the parent," we cannot admit the idea as at all probable. Vines, olives, poplars, and willows have 

 been projjagated by extension for ages, and are still, as far as can be ascertained, as vigorous as they were 

 in the time of Noah or Pliny. 



4374. A nuinerous list of varieties viay be considered as puzzling to inexperienced per.^ons luho have to 

 select for a garden or an orchard. Sabine {Hort. Trans, iii. 263.) justly observes, that the stock of 

 apples requires reduction rather than increase ; and adds, that one of the chief objects to which the 

 attention of the Horticultural Society is at present directed, is to make a judicious selection. 



4375. A great variety of apple-trees in a bearing state may be seen in different nurseries both in Britain 

 and Ireland, but especially near London ; from these in the autumn, the fruit may be tasted from the 

 trees, and either young plants newly worked, or plants in a state of bearing, fixed on and marked, to be 

 taken up at the proper season. The advantages of this mode, especially to such as possess but a small gar- 

 den, are too obvious to require comment. 



4376. No well arranged catalogue of apples has yet been published, because, in general, only a limited 

 number of sorts fall under the eye and experience of one individual. Such a work seems more likely to 

 be accomplished by public bodies, and is worthy of their attention. In the mean time, we present tlie 

 best arrangement in our power of sorts readily procured from British nurseries, including most of the 

 newly originated varieties, of which accounts have been published, and grafts distributed, among the com- 

 mercial gardeners. 



Yy 



