ICOSANDRIA. PENTAGYNIA. Pyrus. 603 
P. tormina'lis. E.) Leaves heart-shaped, with seven angles: lowermost 
lobes divaricating : (flower-stalks corymbose, branched. E.) 
so justly celebrated for his researches into vegetable physiology, has published, among 
various other papers, a volume of very ingenious experiments on Apple and Pear Trees, and 
subsequently a work entitled the “Pomona of Herefordshire,” in which will be found 
descriptions of both the old and improved fruits, together with highly finished representa¬ 
tions of each kind. Mr. Knight is of opinion that all the varieties, (as in this instance from 
the parent stock of the Common Crab), are limited in their existence; hence, he infers, so 
many once valuable kinds are now apparently worn out: and that the only permanent 
reproduction is that of species by seed. The Rev. Mr. Williamson has proved experimen¬ 
tally, in Kent, that trees raised from the kernels of the fruit are still liable to disease and 
premature decay, and is inclined to believe that the want of summer heat must be deemed 
a principal cause of this failure. He observes that a hot summer will produce a temporary 
revival ; orchards apparently worn out, starting into fresh vigour, and bearing large quan¬ 
tities of fruit: and that though in Russia and America the winters are more severe, 
the summers are hotter than with us, and therefore both moss and cankers are com¬ 
paratively unknown on their Apple-trees. In confirmation of the above remark, and 
also in refutation of the fanciful theory, that the Golden Pippin, and some others of our very 
best apples, were degenerating, and rapidly disappearing, from mere sympathy with the 
parent stock, it should be recorded, that in consequence of the late genial summers, (1821, 
&c.) both in Covent Garden market, and the nurseries round London, there was as fine and 
as plentiful a crop of Golden Pippins as was ever known. The planters of orchards, there¬ 
fore, need not despair of this favourite apple, whose cyder surpasses in richness “ the gay 
champagne.” The Golden. Pippin is almost peculiar to England, and should be invariably 
grafted on a Crab stock to insure sound and piquant fruit; those trees raised on free stocks 
producing, though perhaps a larger, yet a mealy and degenerate fruit, It may be well to know 
that moss and insects, so seriously detrimental to neglected orchards, and equally infesting 
both Apple and Pear trees, maybe most effectually removed by a wooden scraper, and 
afterwards so completely destroyed by a dressing of fresh made lime from the kiln, slacked 
in water and applied with a brush, that renewed vigour, and even a renewed outward bark, 
will sometimes supervene. Among numerous mischievous intruders, the American or 
White Blight, {Aphis lanatu), which commits extensive ravages on Apple trees, from its 
curious habits merits the particular notice of the young Entomologist. (Vid. Journ. Nat. 
PI. vi. 3.) It will be found covered and quite concealed by a peculiar secretion, which 
transpires through numerous pores in the skin, (forming a cradle for the viviparous crea¬ 
tures), so that the crevices in the bark which it inhabits look as if they were filled, not 
with animals, but with cotton. Nor is the fruit itself exempt from a peculiar pilferer, 
which fattens on its heart’s core. The cross-bill, {Loxia curvirastro), attracted even from 
the pine forests of Germany, (for it rarely breeds in England), migrates to our orchards to 
feed upon the seeds of the Apple, and extensive is the mischief it does by cutting the fruit 
asunder with its well constructed mandibles, in order to obtain the kernels. The juice of 
apples is a menstruum for iron. A solution of iron in the juice of Golden Rennets evapo¬ 
rated to a thick consistence, proves an elegant chalybeate, which keeps well. Greatly as we 
venerate ancient usages, and regret the departure of good old times, among the vestiges of 
superstition, “more honoured in the breach than the observance,” “The custom of 
saluting the Apple trees at Christmas, with a view to another year, is still preserved both in 
Cornwall and Devonshire. In some parishes the parishioners walk in procession visiting the 
principal orchards in the parish. In each orchard one. tree is selected as the representative 
of the rest; this is saluted by a certain form of words, which have in them an air of 
incantation. They then either sprinkle the tree with cyder, or dash a bowl of cyder against 
it, to ensure its bearing plentifully the ensuing year.” Forster’s Per. Cal. The delicalely 
blended pink and white of the Crab blossom; renders it still more exquisitely beautiful, 
either collectively or individually, than that of the Apple : but every one not wholly lost to 
the vivifying influence of Spring, or insensible to the most lively parterre in the garden of 
nature, will acknowledge that the combined beauties and refreshing fragrance of the Apple 
or Pear orchards on the incense-breathing morn of rosy May, when the trees have assumed 
their most luxuriant verdure, and the very hedges teem with sweets, arc unrivalled; and 
be ready to exclaim, 
