GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
III. 
It should also be mentioned that one of the original drawings made for this work, viz.—that 
of the Eggleton Styre on Plate xxix.—was made by Mrs. Stackhouse Acton, of Acton Scott, 
Salop. This lady was the eldest daughter of Mr. Thos. Andrew Knight, and his associate 
in many of the experiments carried out at Elton, and Downton Castle, at the commencement of the 
present century. These experiments, especially such as related to the growth and hybridization of 
fruits, may be said to have created a fresh era in Scientific Horticulture, and thus to have given rise 
to the great increase in the variety of apples and pears which we now enjoy. Mrs. Stackhouse 
Acton took a very lively interest in the present work ; she supplied much of the material from 
which the life of her father was written ; and having made drawings for his “ Pomona Herefordensis ” 
in the year 1808, it was a source of great pleasure to her after an interval of seventy years, to be 
able in 1878 to make a drawing for “ The Herefordshire Pomona.” Mrs. Stackhouse Acton died 
at Acton Scott, on January 24, 1882, in her eighty-seventh year. 
The letter-press of the work throughout has also been gratuitously afforded. A large 
amount of original information is distributed throughout its pages from beginning to end, for which 
the Woolhope Club is deeply indebted to the various writers. Dr. Bull, the general Editor, gives 
the introductory essays on “ The Early History of the Apple and Pear ” ; “ Modern Apple Lore ” ; 
“Thomas Andrew Knight and his Work in the Orchard”; and “The Life of Lord Viscount 
Scudamore ” ; all of which possess the highest interest to the county of Hereford. Due recognition 
must also be made of the excellent practical monograph on “ The Cordon System of Growing Pears,” 
contributed by the Right Hon. the Earl of Chesterfield (then Sir Henry H. S. Scudamore 
Stanhope, Bart.), giving the results of his own experience at Holme Lacy. Mr. Edwin Lees, 
F.L.S., F.G.S , &c., of Worcester, has also contributed a learned and highly interesting paper on the 
“ Crab and its Associations.” There is also the able and exhaustive paper on “ The Orchard and 
its Products, Cider and Perry,” by the Rev. C. H. Bulmer and the Pomona Committee. The labour 
bestowed on this treatise, embracing so extensive a subject, was necessarily very great. Mr. J. 
Griffith Morris worked at it cordially, and to him is chiefly due the lucid description of M. 
Pasteur’s views of Fermentation, and much also of the statistical work it contains. 
The examination of the juice of the several Vintage Fruits has been made with much care 
by Mr. G. H. With, F.R.A.S., F.C.S., of Trinity College, Dublin, and the accuracy of the results 
may be relied on. It will be observed that the density, or amount of sugar contained in the juice, 
has a much lower range than that of the Norman fruits now introduced ; and much lower also than 
that taken from Herefordshire apples by Mr. Thos. Andrew Knight at the beginning of the 
present century. This fact is clue,, beyond doubt, to the succession of ungenial summer seasons 
experienced during the last seven years. The Club is also indebted to Mr. With for the valuable 
recipe for Orchard Manure, which will be found on page 160. 
The Chromo-lithographs for the work have been executed by Monsieur G. Severeyns, of 
Brussels. The Plates show their own excellence, and it is satisfactory to know that the artistic skill he 
has displayed in reproducing the beautiful original drawings so faithfully, together with the 
testimonials sent by the Club, have aided materially in obtaining for him the high honour of being 
made a “ Chevalier de l’Ordre de Leopold,” a distinction which has just been awarded to him by 
the King of the Belgians 
