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XXVIII. — On the CuUimtion of Orchards, and the Making of 
Cider and Perry. By Frederick Falkner. 
The advantage of an orchard upon a farm of sufficient size for 
the supply of cider for the labourers, and the use of the farmer's 
family, is so generally appreciated in certain districts of the 
counties of Hereford, Worcester, Gloucester, Somerset, and 
Devon, as to be thought an almost indispensable appendage, and 
the absence of it a great objection. Through the larger part of 
these counties, no other liquor, for ordinary use, is thought of; 
and it would be considered very expensive and troublesome to be 
under the necessity of supplying its place by brewing malt liquor. 
An orchard is besides a source of considerable gain, in affording 
both common and superior cider for sale, which frequently, under 
good management, affords a considerable profit. In the expressive 
language of the farmer, it yields a harvest without a seed-time ; 
and those who have once experienced the benefit and pleasure of 
its wholesome and luscious supplies, would be sorely annoyed and 
perplexed by maltsters' bills, and the mysteries of mashing and 
fermenting, which after all, offer, in their opinion, a very indif- 
ferent substitute. An orchard, besides, affords an agreeable 
variety in the farmer's hopes and pursuits, and no inconsiderable 
addition to his domestic comforts and enjoyments. It is, indeed, 
the Englishman's proper and natural vineyard, producing him, 
almost without labour, fruit of I'ich and various flavour, more 
beautiful than the grape, and yielding an abundant supply of a 
scarcely less agreeable and cheering beverage. 
There are three principal circumstances which appear to influ- 
ence the growth of apple-trees, and to determine their natural 
localities: namely, climate, soil, and aspect. Though this tree 
will endure a winter of greater severity than is generally experi- 
enced in any part of the British Islands, yet, to bring its fruit to 
maturity requires a warm summer, and therefore the southern 
and western counties are more favourable to orchards than those 
of the north and east, and accordingly they are more generally cul- 
tivated in the former than in the latter, even where the soils are of 
a similar character. If we look at the geological position of the 
districts above named, where orchards most prevail, we shall find 
that they are situated upon strata which abound with marls, marly 
clays, and calcareous sandstone : viz., the marls of the old red 
sandstone of Herefordshire ; those of the new red sandstone ; the 
marly clays of the lias ; and the calcareous and often marly beds 
of the inferior oolite in the counties of Worcester, Gloucester, 
Somerset, and Devon. The two last strata, however, scarcely 
extend to Devon. Those who have not visited the cider coun- 
tries in the spring, particularly the valleys of Somerset and 
