C viii ] 



very freely, and would be abundantly productive ; but I suspect 

 that the fruit, in some seasons, would decay without falling from the 

 trees ; for it does not ever detach itself from the branch till long 

 after it has become perfectly ripe, nor till it has become transpa- 

 rent, like its female parent, the yellow Siberian crab. The richness 

 of the juice of this apple, so far exceeds that of any other, that I 

 am at a loss to conjecture the degree of strength which the cider 

 will possess: but 1 suspect that if fermentation be allowed to pro- 

 ceed till all the saccharine matter of the juice is decomposed, under 

 favourable circumstances, the cider will nearly rival in strength 

 any genuine wine, which is now grown in France. 



To what further extent the saccharine matter may be increased 

 in this, or in any other species of fruit, future experiment can alone 

 decide. Nature appears to have made every species of esculent 

 plant and fruit capable of endless change, and probably, relatively 

 to the use of man, capable of endless improvement; and thus pre- 

 sents to him an ample and unbounded field, in which accident has 

 hitherto usurped the place of art and science. 



Respecting the execution of the coloured Plates, the Society 

 have reason to hope that the Subscribers to the work will be per- 

 fectly satisfied ; for the Plates first given, as samples, are inferior 

 to those which succeed : they have nevertheless had much to regret 

 in the loss, through ill health, of the skill and talents of Miss 

 Mathews of Belmont, to whom they were indebted for all, except 

 three, of the very excellent drawings, from which the Plates were 

 taken. The remaining three, the Stead's Kernel, the Old Pearmain, 

 and the Friar, were the work of a very young and inferior artist of 

 my own family ; but those were finished under my own eye, and 

 were most perfectly correct; and whatever may have been defec- 

 tive in the drawings has not been transferred by Mr. Hooker to the 

 Plates. 



