SUBURBAN FRUIT-GROWING. 



339 



There are certain Apples which are referred to in Shake- 

 speare's plays that are of unknown antiquity, and yet they are 

 still with us. 



Thus, in the play of Henry IV. Part II., act ii, scene 4, the 

 first drawer says : " What hast thou brought there ? Apple 

 Johns ? Thou knowest Sir John Falstaf? cannot endure an 

 Apple John." 



Second Drawer : " Mass ! Thou sayest true. The Prince 

 once set a dish of Apple Johns before him and told him there 

 were five more Sir Johns, and, putting off his hat, said, ' I will 

 now take my leave of these six dry, round, old, withered 

 knights." 



And in the same play Davy says, " There is a dish of 

 Leathercoats for you," no doubt meaning the Leather Coat 

 Russet. Then, again, Shallow is made to say, "Nay ! you shall 

 see mine orchard, where in an arbour we will eat a last year's 

 Pippin of my own graffin, with a dish of Carraways," no doubt 

 meaning Carraway Russets. 



In the Merry Wives of Windsor Evans says, " I pray 

 you, begone ! I will make an end of my dinner. There's 

 Pippins and cheese to come." 



It was only the other day that an old lady picked up an 

 Apple in my garden, and said, "May I keep it ? I am so fond of 

 a sharp Apple with cheese." 



And in the play of Borneo and Juliet Mercutio says, 

 " Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting — it is a most sharp sauce ! " 

 And Romeo replies, " And is it not well served to a sweet 

 goose ? " 



Many of you have doubtless often heard of good old John 

 Parkinson, the author of " Paradisus." From an edition of this 

 work, published in 1629, I have made the following extract. He 

 says, in his quaint old English : — 



" The Paradise or dwarf-apple groweth nothing so high as 

 other sorts, and many times not much higher than a man may 

 reach. The fruit is a fair yellow apple, but very light and 

 spongy, and of a bitterish-sweet taste — nothing pleasant. To 

 recompense this fault, whatever other sort of apple shall be 

 grafted on it will be kept low and like unto itself, and bear fruit 

 reasonable well." 



He goes on to say that " the Golding Pippin is the best of 



