304 



THE APPLE. 



valuable, producing, with very little pains on 

 the part of the proprietor, abundance of excel- 

 lent fruit, fit either for the dessert, for dressing, 

 or for making cider. To prove in what estima- 

 tion it is held among gardeners, who resort to 

 more sensible means for improving their trees 

 than those above mentioned, it is only necessary 

 to state that no less than 1400 named sorts, 

 all differing from each other in shape, size, 

 colour, flavour, or season of ripening, are enume- 

 rated in the Horticultural Society's Catalogue 

 for 1831. All of these are cultivated in the 

 Society's gardens, and new varieties are con- 

 stantly being added. 



The fruit of the wild Apple is called a crab, 

 the sourness of which has passed into a proverb. 

 The juice of crabs, called verjuice, is used to 

 cure sprains and scalds, being often kept by 

 good housewives in the country for that pur- 

 pose. Isaac Walton, in his Complete Angler, 

 mentions it as being an ingredient in the rustic 

 delicacy, syllabub. When next you come this 

 way, if you will but speak the word, I will make 

 you a good syllabub of new verjuice, and then 

 you may sit down in a hay-cock and eat it." 

 The old-fashioned ointment called pomatum was 

 made with the pulp of Apples {poma), lard, and 

 rose-water. i 



Though the Crab is the only Apple indigenous 

 to Britain, several of the best sorts were first 

 raised in this country. The Cornish Gilliflower 

 is pronounced by Lindley the best eating apple ; 

 the Golden Pippin, so called from the small 

 spots or pips that usually appear on the sides of i 

 these apples, is a native of Sussex ; the Ribs ton 



