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 Falstaff 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 gratfin, 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 
