III. 
THE FOXWHELP. 
This splendid apple is merely mentioned in Ev elyn’s Po- 
mona as a variety which “ some commend;” and it probably 
did not, at that period, deserve greater commendations than 
were given to it. For the variety being then new, and the 
trees young, the fruit might attain a larger size, as well as 
abound with juice ; and in this state the Foxwhelp affords 
a cider, which, though strong and well flavoured, is harsh 
and rough. But as the trees and the variety have grown 
older, much of the fruit has (in some soils and seasons par¬ 
ticularly) become small and shrivelled, and under these cir¬ 
cumstances the expressed juice is extremely rich and sac¬ 
charine ; and enters, in a greater or less proportion, into the 
composition of many of the finest ciders now made in 
Herefordshire, to which it communicates both strength and 
flavour. 
Many of the old trees of this variety still appear healthy 
and vigorous ; though grafts taken from them do not grow 
well: some attempts are nevertheless still made to propa¬ 
gate it; but I venture to predict that they will not be 
successful: for the grafts necessarily partake of a life that 
is nearly two centuries old, and the young stock can give 
nutriment only, not new life. The specific gravity of 
the juice of the large and juicy Foxwhelp I found to be 
1076, and that of the same variety, when small and shrivelled, 
to be 1080 . This apple is, I believe, certainly a native of 
Herefordshire. 
