“In some places 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 with a certain form of words, which have in them the form of an incantation. They then sprinkle the tree with cider, or dash a bowl of cider against it, to ensure its bearing plentifully the ensuing year. In other places the farmers and their servants only assemble on the occasion, and after immersing apples in cider hang them on the apple-trees. They then sprinkle the trees with cider; and after uttering a formal incantation, they dance round it (or rather round them), and return to the farmhouse to conclude these solemn rites with copious draughts of cider.
“In Warleggan, on Christmas-eve, it was customary for some of the household to put in the fire (bank it up), and the rest to take a jar of cider, a bottle, and a gun to the orchard, and put a small bough into the bottle. Then they said:—
“Here’s to thee, old apple-tree!
Hats full, packs full, great bushel-bags full!
Hurrah! and fire off the gun.”
—(Old Farmer, Mid Cornwall, through T. Q. Couch, Sept. 1883, W. Antiquary.)
The words chanted in East Cornwall were:—
“Health to thee, good apple-tree,
Pocket-fulls, hat-fulls, peck-fulls, bushel-bag fulls.”
An old proverb about these trees runs as follows:—