[ ''iii ] 
\ 
t 
very freely, and would be abundantly productive; but I suspect 
that the fruit, in some seasons, would decay without falling from the 
trees; for it does not ever detach itself from the branch till Ion? 
O 
after it has beeorae perfectly ripe, nor till it has become transpa¬ 
rent, like its female parent, the yellow Siberian erab. The richness 
of the juice of this apple, so far exceeds that of any other, that I 
am at a loss to conjecture the degree of strength which the cider 
will possess: but I suspect that if fermentation be allowed to pro¬ 
ceed till all the saccharine matter of the juice is decomposed, under 
favourable circumstances, the cider will nearly rival in strength 
any genuine wine, which is now grown in France. 
To what further extent the saccharine matter may be increased 
in this, or in any other species of fruit, fu ture experiment can alone 
decide. Nature appears to have made every species of esculent 
plant and fruit capable of endless change, and probably, relatively 
to the use of man, capable of endless improvement; and thus pre¬ 
sents to him an ample and unbounded field, in which accident has 
hitherto usurped the place of art and science. 
Respecting the execution of the coloured Plates, the Society 
have reason to hope that the Subscribers to the work will be per¬ 
fectly satisfied; for the Plates first given, as samples, are inferior 
to those which succeed : they have nevertheless had much to regret 
in the loss, through ill health, of the skill and talents of Miss 
Mathews of Belmont, to whom they were indebted for all, except 
three, of the very excellent drawings, from which the Plates were 
taken. The remaining three, the Stead’s Kernel, the Old Pearmain, 
and the Friar, were the work of a very young and inferior artist of 
my own family; but those were finished under my own eye, and 
were most perfectly correct; and whatever may have been defee- 
tive in the drawings has not been transferred by Mr. Hooker to the 
Plates. 
