18 



moss and lichen. This shews how heneficial a little 

 surface-stirring, with the addition of a little manure? 

 is. A considerable quantity of cider made and con- 

 sumed hereabouts is very poor ; the visages of the men 

 who are in the constant habit of drinking it are sallow 

 and wrinkled.'^ {Gard, Chron. 1844, 636.) 



The criticism, of course, falls harmless upon some 

 orchardists, whose practice offers a striking contrast to 

 that of their more ignorant and careless neighbours ; 

 and to these we would add this warning, that, beyond 

 all doubt, their ill-cultivation occasions the early de- 

 crepitude of good varieties, and the frequent occurrence 

 of failing crops, far more than any ungenial vicissitudes 

 of our climate, or any other natural causes. 



BOTANICAL CHARACTEHS. 



Pyrus malus, the apple, belongs to the Icosandria 

 Pentagynia class and order of Linnaeus, and to the 

 Rosaceae of the natural system. The generic charac- 

 ters are. Petals flat and spreading ; Styles five, some- 

 what united at the base ; Pome usually globose and 

 depressed, always umbilicate at the base ; Footstalks 

 simple, umbellate ; Leaves simple, glandless. 



The specific characters are, Leaves ovate or elliptic, 

 acute, serrated, clothed beneath with white down, as 

 well as on the calyxes, petioles, and footstalks ; 

 Flowers corymbose ; Styles glabrous. 



