CHAP. IV.

SInce Apples make a part of our Kernel-Fruits, and a very considerable part too, as well in respect of their Goodness, and Lasting Quality, as of the Convenience they afford us, of having them either growing upon little Dwarf Trees, grafted upon Para∣dise-Apple-Stocks, or upon larger Dwarf-Trees and Standards grafted upon Wild or Crab-stocks, I will take the opportunity in this place to set down what I would Coun∣sel Gentlemen to plant of them, before I proceed to speak of Wall Trees, among which, I seldom or never admit them Entrance.

Among the Apples that are good to Eat Raw, or Baked, or otherwise prepared, (for * I meddle not here with Cyder-Apples,) I count Seven principal sorts, that is to say, the Gray-Pippin, the White, or Frank-Pippin, the Autumn Calvill, the Fennellet, or Fennell-Apple, the Cour-pendu, or short-hung, or short-stalk'd-Apple, the Api, and the Violet-Apple. There are some others which I prize not so much, tho' they are no bad Fruit, as the Rambour, * the Summer-Calvill, the Cousinotte, the Orgeran, the Jerusalem, the Thick Pairmain, the Ice-Apple, the Francatu, the Hiute-Bontée, or High-goodness, the Royalty, the Rouvezeau, the Chesnut-Apple, the Pigconnet, or Pigcon-Apple, the Pass-pomme, or Passing-Apple, the Petit-bon, or Small-good, the Fig-Apple, &c.

All Apples pretty near resemble one another in their flat figure, and short stalk, and * the most part of them in bigness too, and in their short Eating Pulp, but they are very different in Colour.

I know not above two or three sorts that are bigger than the others, namely, the Rambours, the Calvills, and the Ice-Applos, and but three or four that are more long Page  125 than flat, namely, the Calvills, the Violets, the Jerusalems, and the Ice-Apples, and they are thicker towards the stalk than towards the head, so that we must conceive the most part of them flat, without any further Description.

The Two sorts of Pippins are distinguished by the Two Names of Gray and White * which they bear, being in other respects of an equal goodness; good Compôtes, or Wet Sweet-Meats may be made of them at all times, and they begin to be eaten Raw towards the Month of January; before that time, they have a little point of sharpness * which pleases not some people, but unhappily assoon as ever they begin to be entirely free of that, they contract a smell that is much more displeasing, and which is rendred still more disagreeable, when the smell of the Straw upon which they are laid to Mellow, intermixes therewith. In sine, it may be said, to the advantage of these Pippins, that they are very profitably made use of almost all the Year long; and to their disadvantage, it may be no less truly affirmed, that their Neighbourhood is infinitely disagreeable and incommodious.

The Summer and Autumnal-Calvills resemble one another pretty near in their lon∣gish shape, and in their Colour, which is of a Blood-Red, but yet the Summer-Calvill is * a little flatter, being likewise less Coloured without, and not at all within, whereas those of Autumn are very Red both without and within, and especially the best of them; that is to say, those that thave the most agreeable Violet-smell that renders them so considerable: I say, these most excellent ones have always their pulp deeplier tinged with Red, and are also more beautiful to look upon than the others. They keep * most commonly from October, when they begin to come in, till January and February. It is a most excellent Fruit to Eat Raw, and no less excellent to use in Compôtes, and Wet Sweet-Meats. It sometimes grows dry and mealy, but that is not till 'tis very old. The Summer-Calvills, both the White and the other, are gone as soon as Septem∣ber is past; they may at least be said not to be disagreeable, and especially in the Pyra∣mids of their Season.

The Fennellet, or Fennell-Apple, or Anis-Apple, is of a Colour not well to be express'd: * It is Grey, overcast all over with something of a Russet, coming near the Colour of the Belly of a Doc, never taking any Lively Colour. It never grows very big, and seems to incline to a Longish Figure: Its pulp is very fine, and its juice much sugred, and perfumed with a little smack of those Plants from which it derives its Name. This Apple begins to be good from the beginning of December, when we have the pleasure to * Eat it with the Pears of the Season, and keeps till February and March. It is certainly a very pretty Apple, and would be much more so, if it were not so apt to wrinkle and wither as well as that which follows next.

The Cour-pendu, or short-hung, or short-stalk'd, Apple, whose Ancient Name some * would have changed, to give it that of Bardin, is perfectly of the regular figure of an Apple, and is of a reasonable bigness; it is of a Grey-Russet Colour on one side, and Dy∣ed with Vermillion on the other. Its pulp is very fine, and its juice very sweet and plea∣sant; they are Eaten with pleasure from the Month of December, till February and * March: We must not give it time to grow wrinkled, because then it is insipid, and loses its tast. It is likewise a very pretty Apple.

The Api, which is in truth, a Right Lady's-Apple, and good Company, is known by * all the World, as being remarkable for its extraordinary piercing and lively Colour. It begins to be good as soon as it has no more green left, neither towards its stalk, nor towards its Crown, which happens pretty often in the Month of December, and then, if I may be permitted so to speak, it requires to be Eaten greedily, and at a chop; that is to say, without Ceremony, and with its Coat all on: For among all the other Apples that are, there are none that have so sine and delicate a Skin as this; it is scarce perceivable in the Eating; nay, and contributes so much to the agreeableness found in these Apples, that 'twould be to impair that to strip them of it. This Apple lasts from December till March and April, and plays its part wonderfully well in all Winter Assemblies, * whither it brings no disagreeable smell, but on the contrary, a certain little touch of a most delicious perfume in a pulp extraordinary fine; and to conclude, it commands Esteem where-ever it presents its self. It is of great increase, and consequently may be commended for a very pretty Apple, and has this further particular advantage, that it never wrinkles nor loses its Charming Colour.

The Violet-Apple is of a Whitish Colour'd ground, a little speckled in those parts * turned from the Sim, but marked, or rather striped and whipt with a good lovely deep Red on that side exposed to the view of that Luminary: The Colour of its pulp is very White, and its self very fine and delicate, having a juice extremely sweet and sugred, leaving no Earthiness or Lees behind it, so that assuredly it is an admirable Apple Page  126 to begin to Eat of as soon as 'tis gathered, and continues till Christmas, beyond which * time it will not reach.

I was promised a Violet-Ice-Apple pretended to be better, and to last longer, and not to come in season till after the other, but I have seen none of them yet. I have indeed * seen one they called the Black Ice-Apple, of the bigness and shape of an ordinary Pippin, and of a very shining Dark Red Colour, except on that side not exposed to the Sun, * which has little or no Red in it; which is an Apple that keeps till April, but it has al∣ways such a tang of a Green tast, which is so disagreeable, that it has given me little stomach to multiply many Trees of it.

The Rambour, as I have already said, is a fair large Apple, Green on one side, and whipt with Red on the other; it is Eatable as soon as August comes in, but lasts but a * little while: It is very good Baked, or otherwise prepared, and requires particularly to grow on Standard Trees, the little Paradise-Apple Stocks being too weak to support the weight of it.

The Cousinottes are a kind of Calvills, which keep till February; their Juice is very sower, and their Stalk long and small. *

The Orgerans, both the hasty and backward ones, seem to me of little worth.

The Apple which is formed like a Star, and bears that Name, is Yellow, and keeps * till April, and is sowrish and hardish, and worth no great matter.

The Jerusalem-Apples are almost Red all over, have a firm pulp, but of little tast, though it be a little sugred, and have nothing of that ill smell that accompanies most * Apples.

The Thick English-Pearmains are of the Colour of the Jerusalem-Apples, but are flatter, and sweeter, and more sugred: The English make greater account of them than of most * of our French-Apples: They likewise mightily esteem another sort of Apples, which they call Golden Pippins, which have perfectly the Air of Paradise-Apples, or some other Wild Apples: They are very Yellow and Round, and have but little Juice which is pretty * high, and rich tasted, and without any ill smell.

The Ice-Apples are so called, because when they Ripen, they seem to grow transparent, without being really so. They are altogether Greenish and Whitish, and make no great * figure among any truly Curious persons.

The Francatu's are Red on one side, and Yellow on the other. They keep a great while, and that's their principal Excellency. *

The Haute-bonte's, or High-goodnesses, are White, Horned, and Longish, and last a long time. They are called in Poiton, Blandilalies: Their pulp is pretty sweet, with a lit∣tle * touch of sharpness.

The Rouvezeau's are Whitish, Coloured with Red.

The Chesnut-Apples, called in Anjou, Martranges, are White and Russet, Coloured with a kind of Dirty and Dusky Red.

The Apple without flowering, or Flowerless, or Blossomless-Apple, is Green, and grows out of the Tree just as Figs do out of a Fig-Tree: It keeps a long time, and is some∣times called a Fig-Apple.

The Petit-bon, or Little-good, is longish, and pretty good.

The Rose-Apple extreamly resembles the Apis in all its outside, but to my taste is not so good, whatsoever the curious Gentry about the Rhone can alledge to the contrary, who would extoll this above other Apples, as much as they would the Cat-pear above other Pears.

And these are all the Apples as near as I can reckon, that I know, after a very exact Scrutiny, and because there is no great difference among them in goodness, I willingly content my self with the seven first sorts, for which I have exprest some esteem, and shall make no scruple to plant a considerable quantity of them, provided they be graft∣ed upon Paradise Apple-stocks, that being a Tree that shoots forth little Wood, and con∣sequently * produces but small Dwarf-Trees, that give very little incumbrance, and that besides, is blest with the advantage of producing great increase, which makes it very considerable to our curious Gentlemen; to which may be added, That it equally agrees with all sorts of Soils, both hot and cold, dry and moist.

I use often to place some of them between all the Dwarf-Pear-trees I plant about e∣very Square of our Kitchin-Gardens, and for that purpose, I set the Pear-trees at a pretty * good distance one from another, without being at all afraid my Apple-trees should defraud the Pear-trees of their nourishment, because these latter draw theirs a good depth our of the Ground; whereas those little Apple-trees which need but little, content themselves with licking up those Superfluities of it only, which were spending themselves towards Page  127 the Surface, and outward Crust of the Earth. By the means of these little Apple-trees, I have the convenience to allow my self almost as many Trees of one sort of Apples, as of the other, and since these little Trees are agreeable enough to the sight in great Gardens, it follows naturally enough from thence, that they produce no ill effect in little ones.

Now therefore we have nothing else to do but to determine what kinds of them to * plant, and what number of each kind, and this is my Method with them; if I have room enough to plant a considerable number of them, as for Example, from fifty, to one or two hundred; I plant two thirds of the total number, of these four sorts, Gray-pippins, White-pippins, Autumn-Calvills, and Apis-apples, of each an equal number; and for the remaining third part, I divide it into three portions, which I employ in Trees of these three other kinds, viz. Fennellets, Cour-pendu's, and Violet-apples.

And proceeding in this manner, in fifty Apple-Trees, I shall have eight Gray Pippin∣trees, eight of White Pippins, eight Autumn-Calvills, eight Apis, six Fennelets, six Cour-pendu's, and six Violet-apples. In a hundred Apple-trees, I shall have sixteen of each of the four first principal sorts, and twelve of each of the other three, and so proportionably in the number of two hundred. But when we shall have occasion to plant three, four, or five hundred, I shall mix with them a twelfth part composed of Summer-Calvills and Rambours; and so at that rate, there would be in three hundred Apples, twelve Summer-Calvills, and twelve Rambours, with fourty three Gray-pippins, fourty three White pippins, fourty three Autumn-Calvills, fourty three Apis, thirty two Fennellets, thirty two Cour-pendu's, and thirty two Violet-apples, and so forwards in greater numbers of each sort, ac∣cording to the same Proportion.

And if any curious Person be minded to add besides, some other Apples, as for Ex∣ample, some Jerusalem Petit-bons, or Little-goods, Chestnut-apples, &c. he may do his plea∣sure, but in my Opinion, that is, according to my taste, these others are not so good as those seven kinds which I here preferr before the rest.

There remains but one difficulty more to clear, which is to direct what is to be done * in very little Gardens, in which I freely counsel that some little Apple-trees be planted; there needs but a very little room to place half a dozen, or a whole dozen of them, without so much as the Company of any Pear-trees among them, and without harming any of the little Plants we have a mind should grow under them. In such a Case, I would plant but six or twelve Apis, which when loaden with Fruit, would be a very pretty ornament to such a little Garden, and if there were room to place two dozen, there should be eight Apis, eight Autumn-Calvills, and eight Cour-pendu's; if there were occasion for fourty, they should be parted among those three above-said kinds, together with the Fennellet, and Violet-Apples, and so there should be still eight of each sort; that is to say, I would hardly plant any Pippins at all among them, they being so easy to be had every where for Money, and Peoples curiosity leading them to covet the other sorts rather than them.

The great Dwarf-Apple-trees grafted on Crab-stocks, are hard to be brought to bear, pro∣duce * too unsightly and cumbersome tops, and too ungovernable to be reduced to a mid∣dle-siz'd Figure, and require a great extent of Ground, so that 'tis much better to have great Standard Apple-trees in separate Orchards, where they spread into tops sometimes of three or four Toises or Fathoms Diameter. In this Case, they require to be placed at a great distance one from the other, that is to say, about sixteen or twenty yards, and yet so they will not continue long to bear Fruit, nor consequently to pleasure us. It is most especially needful to have recourse to those Standard Trees, for Autumn-Calvills, Pippins of all sorts, Rambours, Francatu's, &c. and then Gentlemen may plant as many Trees of them, as they have occasion for.

After having treated of both Pear-trees and Apple-trees, as well in the figure of Dwarf-trees, as of Standards, it is very pertinent to discourse next of those sorts of Stone-fruit that are capable of prospering either in the one or the other of those two Figures, before we come to the Wall-trees.