164 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[July, 
Assuredly it is not a very reasonable proceeding to grow sour fruit, in order to 
pile sugar over it both before and after cooking, when fruits sweet enough for 
almost eveiy palate might be grown with equal ease, on the same area, and to 
the same or greater weight. The argument of superior flavour has no foundation 
in reason, and will not stand the test of trial. No Apples will make a finer pudding 
or pie than the Ribston Pippin , Alfriston , or Cox’s Orange Pippin. On the 
contrary, these have an aroma, a bouquet, that the best kitchen Apples cannot 
reach. True, they may be too sweet for some palates. To those who prefer acid 
apples without sugar we have nothing to say ; they will, of course, continue to 
eat them. But those who sweeten their tarts of Lord Suffield , Beefing , Gloria 
Mundi , and Wellington up to the Ribston-Pippin standard of sweetness, had 
far better reduce their grocer’s bill by using the sugar at first-hand and free of 
cost, in their dessert Apples. 
Already this sensible advice is being acted upon in regard to Pears for stewing, 
and for puddings and pies. Some, however, almost need to be told that Pears 
make better puddings and pies than Apples, as well as that the best dessert Pears, 
just before they are fit for table, are best for both, as well as for stewing. Let 
any one try Marie Louise , Glou Morceau, Beurre Biel , Duchesse d’Angouleme, 
Vicar of Winkfield , Louise Bonne of Jersey , or Brown or Golden Beurre , and 
he would not care to eat any more of Black Worcester , or Catillac , or even 
of Uvedale’s St. Germain , unless it might be the latter in March or April, after 
even the Easter Beurre —one of the finest dessert Pears in existence, as well as 
our very best for stewing and puddings and pies—had gone out of season. 
The same principle is applicable to Plums. Why cook Bullaces , Damsons , 
or even Victorias , when Gages galore, Jeffersons , and Golden Drops are filled 
with sugar and the most delicious juices ready to hand ? 
Much sugar might be saved in preserving fruit by growing only, or mostly, 
the sweetest. As things have been managed in the past, the sweetest varieties 
have been ticketed insipid. And why ? Because all fruits of the same species 
have generally been sugared alike—pound for pound, or three-quarters of a 
pound of sugar to a pound of fruit, according to the receipt of the books on house¬ 
keeping, and this whether it contained 10 or 20 per cent, of saccharine matter, 
with as much immutability as the old Medio-Persian law, or that of three minutes 
to the boiling of an egg, big or little. Hence, of course, the best, that is, the 
sweetest, fruits were sugared to excess and made insipid, and many inferior fruits 
were and are under-sugared, and run into rottenness and acetous fermentation. 
Why, even among Apricots there are wide differences in the proportions of 
saccharine matter, and I do not hesitate to affirm that the Kaisha ought not 
to have so much sugar as the Moorpark, and that this again is sweeter than the 
Breda. Of course there is a much wider range among Plums , and indeed a 
considerable difference is allowed between Gages and other varieties, although 
the matter has not been considered with that thoroughness and minuteness in 
regard to the different varieties that its importance demands. 
