CHAPTER XLVII.
ON THE APPLE AND PEAR AS ORCHARD FRUITS.
In discussing the subject of fruit in relation to the farm, we shall find that the number of species is exceedingly limited, being, indeed, confined to two: the apple and the pear. This paucity of species, however, is amply compensated for in an extended and constantly extending list of sorts, or varieties, which, in both species, amount to several hundreds.
The apple, which we shall first describe, is admitted on all hands to be derived from the wild crab-apple (Pyrus malus), which is considered to be a native tree, to which position its general appearance in woods and hedges all over the island would seem to give it no small claim.
The fruit of the crab is exceedingly austere, and hence sour-tempered people are said to be “crabbed.” The expressed juice makes a strong vinegar, called “Verjuice”—in the vulgar, “Varjes”—and hence Akerman, in his “Wiltshire Tales,” has given a cross-grained woman the name of “Mistress Varjes.” Verjuice is a very popular remedy for sprains and bruises, and hence on most farms having trees of crab-apples, the fruit is made into vinegar, and kept separately for medicinal or domestic use.
The wild crab is very various in the size, colour, and flavour of its fruit, varying in the latter point from an austerity that, on biting an apple, would make one wince again, to that of an agreeable acid flavour, almost equal to some of our domestic apples.
Taking into consideration this disposition to run into varieties, even in a wild state, we shall not be surprised that, in cultivation, the sorts of apples should be endless, so much so, indeed, that Don, in his “General System of Gardening and Botany,” has copied a list[30] in which are described no less than one thousand four hundred sorts, and in a nurseryman’s list now before us, “Descriptive Catalogue of Fruit Trees, by John Scott, of Merriott Nurseries, Crewkerne, Somerset,” are described as many as one hundred and sixty-six sorts, which he is prepared to supply to purchasers.
[30] This list was made out by the Horticultural Society in 1832, and may now be considerably augmented.
As an evidence of the facility with which new sorts can be obtained, there is scarcely a country town or place in orchard districts but has given its name to some apple. Thus we have Canadian Pippin, Newtown Pippin, Carlisle and Keswick Codlin, Hawthenden, &c.; and the names of fruit-growers and others attached to apples is almost endless; as thus: Ashmead’s Kernel, Nelson’s Codlin, Lucombe’s Seedling, Lord Nelson, Lord Raglan, &c., &c.
The subject of “sorts,” as applied to fruit, is one of great interest, as the facility with which these can be obtained renders it possible to procure fruit possessing very different properties and capabilities, adapted, not only to a great variety of uses, but with powers of adaptation to different soils, and a wide range of climatic differences.
These powers of adaptation have, indeed, resulted in the preservation of many sorts, but it also causes the neglect of some others; for as fashion takes up with new favourites old ones are neglected until they die out, and, if not become entirely lost, their stocks are lessened, so that the chance of a good choice for their continuance becomes more difficult year by year. We believe this to have more to do with the decline of old favourites than any inherent principle of decay with which grafts are said to be endowed.
The many sorts of apples differing so much in flavour and keeping powers, enable this fruit to be employed for a variety of purposes, such as—
Culinary Apples, used for tarts, puddings, &c., &c.;
Dessert Apples, usually of a sweet sub-acid flavour and crisp texture, eaten raw;
Cider Apples, the expressed juice of which forms English Cider (Cidre, French).
The same distinctions apply to pears, with the difference that their juice is termed Perry.
Now, with regard to the two first, we need here only mention them incidentally, as their description belongs more properly to the horticulturist, or pomologist, than to the farmer; at the same time it must be confessed that both culinary and dessert apples may be made a source of profit by the farmer, as they would always find ready purchasers; but the difficulty a farmer meets with in their cultivation results from the circumstance that it is not easy to exert that watchfulness over broad acres necessary to protect sweet apples from the predatory urchins with which every country parish abounds, a propensity, indeed, not sufficiently checked by the elders, whose plea that “it is only a few apples, and that children will be children,” affords just that amount of encouragement which too often ends in more serious acts of larceny.
As regards cider fruit, we would here dissent from the common belief that sour apples are the best for cider-making. We believe that the sweeter the apple, and the higher the specific gravity of the juice, the better the cider. Many, then, of our culinary and dessert apples would make most excellent drink; at the same time there are many sorts that will not “cook,” whose flesh cannot be got to become soft and pulpy, but rather hard and tough by the processes either of boiling or baking. Many sorts whose flavour is not sufficiently agreeable to be eaten raw, and yet these may yield on expression a sweet juice, resulting in a strong and agreeable cider.
Now, although there can be little doubt but that the quality of cider is much influenced by the sort of fruit from which it is made, we are inclined to the belief that the nature of the soil has, if possible, a still more decided influence upon the result. We therefore now direct attention to some of the best cider districts in England, which may be classed as follows:—
Devonshire, Cider of the sweetest and richest kind;
Somersetshire, Cider rich and not so sweet;
[323]Dorsetshire, Cider somewhat poor;
Herefordshire, Cider and Perry, very strong, but somewhat harsh;
Worcestershire, Perry and Cider, rich and not too harsh;
Gloucestershire, Cider and Perry, strong but not sweet.
The prevailing geological formations of these cider-producing counties may be arranged as follows:—
1. Oolite Sands—Dorset, and parts of Somerset.
2. Lias—Gloucester, Somerset, and Dorset.
3. New Red Sandstone—Worcester, Devon and Hereford, in part.
4. Old Red Sandstone—Hereford and Devon.
5. Silurian System—Hereford, in part.
Hence, then, cider and perry are grown on the sub-soils of five geological substrata, if, indeed, No. 1 should not here be classed with No. 2, for the extent of orcharding upon the inferior oolite sands of Somerset and Dorset is rather due to its extension from the contiguous lias, and this on account of an occasional depth and tenacity of soil. Its produce, however, is usually inferior.
In Gloucestershire orchards always stop when the top of the lias is reached, and it is curious to see the sides of the Cotteswolds occupied with well-to-do orchards until the oolite is reached, and then they cease altogether, except in some few instances, which are here referred to by way of warning.
Gloucestershire, for our present purpose, may be said to rest on liassic valleys and oolitic hills. In the valleys are small farms with small enclosures, much of which is in orchard and meadow, whilst on the hills are large farms with fields of from 30 to 100 acres devoted to arable cultivation. Hence, then, this has brought about two sets of farms: the vale, with its fruits and dairy stock, producing good cider, perry, butter, and cheese; the hills, mutton, wool, roots, barley, &c. Now, it happens as a rule that the hill farmer stands higher in his profession than he of the vale, for on the hills he can say—
“Ay, marry, now my soul hath elbow-room.”
The skill and enterprise in breeding the magnificent Cotteswold sheep, for which there is each year such a spirited competition, attest to this fact.
No sooner, then, does a vale farmer become possessed of sufficient capital than he moves to the hills, and as in his former residence he had imbibed a love for cider, his first act will be to plant an orchard at his new home; but, alas! the most successful farmer cannot command crops in an uncongenial soil, and so it is not surprising that we should know of instances where not even enough fruit for an annual apple pudding has been produced from a Cotteswold orchard which had been planted thirty years.
Apples only attain to perfection on deep tenacious soils, and in a genial climate; the moment the roots get down to stones, the ends of the branches begin to decay, and they become covered over with lichens as thickly as in wet ill-drained clays; besides this the trees look old and knotty, even in youth, a sure sign that they are not sufficiently nourished. These facts are so well known that in planting in our gardens we prepare the soil, if not sufficiently deep and good, and make the climate more genial by fencing and planting in sheltered situations; but this is not possible on a large scale.
Pears prefer a lighter soil than apples, the new red sandstone deposit, especially, the marls of this rock and the lias clays, when covered up, as in parts of the valley of the Severn, with sand drifts, suit pears admirably.
Like the apple, the pear is rich in sorts. It is said to be derived from the Pyrus communis, which is referred to as a native tree; but though it is really wild in the temperate regions of the European continent, and in parts of Asia, there seems reason to conclude that our occasional hedge-row denizen has, after all, been derived from pear cultivation.
Pears for dessert are very numerous, and each year adds to the list. Scott, of Crewkerne and Yeovil Nurseries, gives a list of two hundred and thirty sorts cultivated by himself, as Standards, Pyramids, and Dwarf-trained for walls and espaliers. This list abounds in French names given by both French and Dutch horticulturists, with whom the pear is a great favourite.
Lindley, in his “Guide to the Orchard and Kitchen Garden,” describes but six sorts of perry pears, of which there are doubtless several varieties. They are as follows:—
ORIGIN OF NAMES.
Barland, from Barland, in the parish of Bosbury, Herefordshire.
Holmore, from the parish of Holmore, between Hereford and Leominster.
Huffcap.
Longland, from the field in which the tree grew.
Oldfield, from Oldfield, near Ledbury.
Teinton Squash, from Teinton, in Gloucestershire.
Besides these are Blakeney Red Trump Pear, Honey Pear, Moorcroft, Malvern Hill, &c. Pears, like apples, being named from places and people, &c., each district having its own favourite sorts; but perhaps those in the previous list are the favourite.
This subject of variety in both apple and pear is interesting, as it has given rise to innumerable names upon this head. My old pupil, Mr. Clement Cadle, says:—
It is almost impossible to give satisfactory information on the sorts of fruit, because the same sort is not only known by different names in different localities, but it also assumes a widely different character under the influence of broad distinctions of soil and climate, and this is more frequently the case with pears than apples. In a tour I made last autumn in the south of Devonshire, I visited several farms in the neighbourhood of Totnes and Paignton, and amongst a great number of sorts that I there saw, I could in no instance recognize either an apple or tree as being like those I had seen before in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, or Worcestershire.
In selecting for producing cider or perry it is very important, not only to get those kinds which suit the district, but to get a variety in their character, especially for making good cider. Thus, some of the apples should be sour, others sweet, bitter-sweet, tart, and harsh, as much of the keeping character of the cider depends upon this mixture, which also makes it fine down well. It may be remarked that sweet or eating sorts of pears seldom make perry that will keep any length of time, or that fines well.
There is another peculiar feature in regard to sorts of fruit, namely, that each variety has its day, then gradually dies out. The trees become non-bearers, and their places are filled with new sorts. This is especially the case with the Hagloe crab, Fox whelp, and Skryme’s kernel, which seldom bear or grow well now, and are nearly gone.
R. A. S. Journal S.S., vol. I. pp. 18, 19.
As regards pears, it should be stated that, while in Worcester, Gloucester, and Hereford much perry is made, and it is highly esteemed, especially for bottling, in Dorset this drink is almost unknown, and we were last year greatly surprised that a farmer who had an immense crop of pears of a sort that were not fit for dessert or culinary purposes, could not divine what to do with them, though he made excellent cider.
We conclude this portion of our subject with a quotation from the Botanical Looker-out, by our old friend and fellow worker, E. Lees, Esq.:—
A pear orchard in exuberant flower is a vegetable spectacle not easily matched, for the bending branches of the pear tree give a gracefulness to its outline far exceeding the stiff formality of the apple tree, and oppressed with a multitudinous crowd of blossoms its branches almost trail the ground, a bending load of beauty that seems by moonlight a mass of silvery ingots. The Barland Orchard, between Worcester and Malvern, containing more than seventy trees, lofty as oaks, cannot be seen by a traveller without admiration, and is the finest in the kingdom, though the trees are now getting old.