1884.] 
HEKEFORDSHIEK BEEFING APPLE. 
25 
from other quarters, proves that there are 
others at work on the same lines. 
I commenced my operations on the Sweet 
Pea four or five years ago, with the following 
kinds : Invincible, the Queen, Violet Queen, 
Captain Clark, Princess of Prussia, Butterfly, 
and what is generally known as the Black 
Sweet Pea. These, as in the case of the 
culinary Pea, were carefully prepared and 
crossed. The seeds produced from these 
crosses were sown singly in thumb-pots about 
the middle of January the following year, and 
kept in a cold frame till the plants were strong 
enough to turn out, which was about the end 
of March. They were planted three feet 
apart, about one hundred in number. Whether 
the vigour of the plants was stimulated by the 
crossing, or the thin planting, or by both, I 
do not now stop to determine, but the growth 
and display of bloom was truly unique. They 
made a row so dense that in some cases where 
a variety was considered to possess some 
merit worth perpetuating, it was found diffi¬ 
cult to separate them without actually pulling 
them to pieces. 
It very seldom occurs that first crosses pro¬ 
duce any very striking novelties. It requires 
two or three generations to work up what 
florists term a strain, hence the value of choice 
breeds. But in this instance I am pleased to 
say I selected a few very good varieties pos¬ 
sessing more especially the valuable properties 
of size and quality of flower, with some slight 
novelty in colour. Thus I was enabled to 
note a clear break from the parent stock, and 
the result of the next generation led me to 
the conclusion that Sweet Peas may he pro¬ 
duced in endless variety of colour, and like 
all other florist flowers, will, with patience and 
perseverance, be improved in form and size. 
Like the culinary Pea they are very erratic in 
their early stages, and require considerable 
care till they are thoroughly flxed in character. 
I notice a clerical error in the cultural por¬ 
tion of my article on Culinary Peas (Florist, 
1883, p. 181). The word “tali’’ is used 
where I refer to “ late ” Peas. It should read 
thus “ Where very late Peas are desirable, 
Ne Plus Ultra sown early in March and treated 
as described would continue to bear till de¬ 
stroyed by frost.” I shall be glad if you will 
call the attention of your readers to this, as 
the word “tall” entirely spoils the sense.— 
H. Eckford, Boreatton Park, Baschurch. 
HEREFORDSHIEE BEEFING APPLE. 
[Plate 604.] 
I fHIS highly-coloured and very pretty 
I Apple, which attracted considerable 
attention in the collection of Messrs. 
^ Cranston & Co., at the National Apple 
Congress at Chiswick last year, promises to be 
a variety of considerable merit. A beautifully 
coloured figure of it is given in The Hereford¬ 
shire Pomona (Plate 35), from whence we 
derive the only information we have regarding 
it. It is there stated that its origin is un¬ 
known. “ Dr. Hogg first saw it at the Apple 
Show of the Woolhope Naturalists’ Field 
Club, held at Hereford, in 1876. It was then 
named simply Beefing to distinguish it from 
the Norfolk Beefing. Dr. Hogg called it the 
Herefordshire Beefing, the name it now bears. 
Singularly enough it was afterwards ascertained 
that a flat roundish Apple, of a brownish red 
colour, had been sent to Forsyth, the Royal 
gardener, and author of a Treatise on Fruit 
Trees, in the year 1801, under the name 
of Hereford Beefin, so that Dr. Hogg’s 
name was at all events anticipated, if it did 
not exactly refer to the same Apple. 
The Herefordshire Beefing may be 
described as medium-sized, flat or oblate in 
shape, even in outline. Skin dark red over 
nearly the entire surface, dotted with light 
brown spots, especially around the base of the 
fruit. Eye open, set in a regularly plaited 
rather deep basin. Stalk short, set in a deep 
rounded cavity. Flesh greenish white, very 
firm, slightly acid and somewhat dry. A 
culinary Apple for midwinter use. The tree is 
of vigorous growth, and a constant and heavy 
cropper, the highly-coloured fruit growing in 
massive clusters. 
It is stated that this Apple has the valuable 
property of drying well in the oven, like the 
Norfolk Beefing; and the Messrs. Cranston 
& Co. inform us of another special property it 
possesses, that of drying up when bruised, 
instead of decaying as most Apples do; this 
wo have proved to be the case.—A. F. B. 
