58 
MODERN APPLE LORE. 
with this, is given in the “ Glossary of the Exmoor Dialect,” and said to be accompanied by 
throwing toast to apple trees—the toast and cider they were drinking themselves. 
So in the neighbourhood of the New Forest, it is said they sang : 
“ Apples and pears with right good corn, 
Come in plenty to every one; 
Eat and drink good cake and hot ale, 
Give Earth to drink, and she’ll not fail.” 
(Christmas in the Olden Time.) 
The customs of “ Apple howling ” and “ Wassailing ” the apple trees have entirely passed 
away in Herefordshire. There is no trace or record to be found of them. On New Year’s Eve, 
the curious custom of “ Burning the Bush ” is still practised in the central and northern districts of 
the county though it relates rather to the cornfields, than to the apple trees. The men light a fire 
in each cornfield successively, and a hawthorn bush is partly burnt in each fire, but not consumed; 
for those present, carry away fragments to ensure prosperity in the ensuing year. This is done with 
much noise, singing the words “Old Cider” monotonously, again and again, with a most singular effect; 
and of course much cider drinking goes on at the same time. This custom was observed this year 
(1879) at Lower Lyde, and at Lyde Court, near Hereford, and at several other farms in the 
neighbourhood. “ Our old labourers wouldn’t be happy all the year if they did not burn the bush on 
New Year’s night,” said one of the gentlemen, at whose farm the custom is observed. 
The labourers in Herefordshire, it is said, usually indulge in an extra glass or two on New 
Year’s Eve. They call this, “ Burying Old Tom ,” and they generally continue their uproarious festi¬ 
vities, till mine host makes a clearance, when they resort to the cornfields to “ Burn the Bush.”— 
(Brand, by Hazlitt /., 12.) 
On New Year’s Eve on the Continent, love divinations are practised. In Silesia a maiden 
having bought an apple at the exact price first demanded for it, (what a fortune the apple sellers 
must make of it!) lays it under her pillow, and at midnight expects to see her future husband in a 
dream. In Swabia a widow who eats half an apple on St. Andrew’s Eve, and places the other half 
under her pillow, expects a similar vision. The same customs with slight variations are also 
practised in Austria, Hesse, and Bohemia. 
New Year’s Day again brings forward apples. This time they are stuck with cloves, and 
carried round by children. An old volume of “ Miscellanies ” in the British Museum, of Queen 
Anne’s time, has in its notice of New Year’s Day the following quaint passage: “ Children, to 
their inexpressible joy, will be dressed in their best bibs and aprons, (dear little oddities !) and may 
be seen banded, along streets, some bearing Kentish pippins, others oranges stuck with cloves, in 
order to crave a blessing of their godfathers and godmothers,” (p. 65), which was doubtless 
expected to take the useful form of a shilling or a crown. 
The custom of presenting decorated apples on New Year’s Day is still common in some 
localities. The apples are mounted on three skewers, like a three legged table, ornamented with 
oat-grains, whited with flour, and surrounded with evergreens and berries. (Notes and Queries, 1st 
Series, /., 214.) In Herefordshire a little pyramid is formed with apples, nuts, and strings of 
holly berries, with holly, box, and ivy, having their leaves more or less gilt and whitened. 
