t

4

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i' ' '9

%4c|*7

A .

TREATISE

ON THE CULTURE OF THE

APPLE & PEAR,

AND ON THE

MANUFACTURE

OF

CIDER & PERRT.

By T. A. KNIGHT E/q.

=LUDLOW=

PRINTED AND SOLD BY H. PROCTER; SOLD ALSO BY T. N. LONGMAN, P ATER-NOSTER- ROW, LONDON ; THE BOOKSELLERS IN HEREFORD, LEOMINSTER,

WORCESTER ^C,

U97-

I historical I

\ MEDJOAL /

^ ^ ^

effeiVs of cultivation on the animal and vegetable fyftems are extremely fimilar. A change in form, in colour, and in fize or flature, takes place in each, and in each thole changes appear to arife from fimilar caufes : from a more abundant and regular fupply of nourilhment than is afforded in a Hate of nature, with a favourable climate, or protedion from the bad effects of an indifferent one. The offspring of every plant and animal, when unchanged by cultivation, bears a very dole re- femblance to it’s parents, but amongft B the

4

the cultivated kinds of each, it is extremely various ; ftill however ge- nerally fhewing fome fimilarity to them. By taking advantage of inci- dental variations, and by propagating from thofe individuals which ap- proach neareft to our ideas of per- fection, improved varieties of fruit, as well as of animals, are obtained. Much attention has in the prefent day been paid to the improvement of the latter, whilfl; the former have been almoft entirely negleCled : pro- bably from an opinion that thefe, being natives of warmer climates, of neceffity degenerate in this. This opinion is however unfounded ; a

more

5

more favourable climate would no doubt be advantageous to every plant and animal ; but the Hall and mea- dow counter-balance the defeats of our climate in the improvement of the one, and it is probable that the fouth wall and highly manured border will have the lame good ef- fedls in the other, and that the changes produced in each will be in proportion to the Ikill and in- duftry of the cultivator.

The apple (on the culture of which I propofe to offer fome obfervations in the following pages) is not the natural produce of any foil, or cli- mate j but owes it’s exiftence to hu- B z man

6

man art and induftry ; and differs from the crab, which is a native of every part of England, only in the changes which cultivation has produced in it. The firft varieties which were cultivated in England, were no doubt imported from the continent ; but at what period is not, I believe, known. Many were introduced by a fruiterer of Henry the eighth, and fome at fubfequent periods j but I am inclined to think that we are indebted to the induftry of the planters of the early part of the laft, and the end of the pre- ceding century, for moft of thofe we have at prefent, and probably

for

7

for all the old fine cider-fruits. The exiftence of every variety of this fruit, appears to be confined to a certain period, during the earlier parts of which only, it can be pro- pagated with advantage to the planter. No kind of apple now cultivated ap- pears to have exilled more than two hundred years ; and this term does not at all exceed the duration of a healthy tree, or of an orchard when grafted on crab-flocks, and planted in a ftrong tenacious foil. From the defcription Parkinfon, who wrote in 1629, has given of the apples cultivated in his time, it is evident that thofe now known by the fame B 3 names

8

names are different, and probably new varieties ; and though many of thofe mentioned by Evelyn, who wrote between thirty and forty years later, flill remain, they appear no longer to defer ve the attention of the planter. The Moil and it’s fuccefsful rival the Redftreak, with the Mufts and Golden Pippin, are in the laft flage of the decay, and the Stire and Foxwhelp are haftening rapidly after them. The Redftreak, fo much celebrated by the writers of the laft century, appears almoft to have furvived it’s fame as a ci- der-fruit j and indeed if it never poffeffed greater excellence than it

does

9

does at prefent, it has certainly been much over-rated. But I fuf- pe6t that each kind of apple is beft calculated for cider, when the origi- nal tree has attained it’s maturity, and before it decays. Not that I think the flavour of the fruit is neceflTarily debafed by the age of the variety j but merely that the crop in the aggregate ripens Ids perfectly, owing to the weak ftate of fome of the dileafed branches.

All efforts, which have hitherto been made to propagate healthy trees of thofe varieties which have been long in cultivation, have, I believe, been entirely unfuccefsful.

B4 The

lO

The grafts grow well for two or three years, after which they become cankered and moffy, and appear, what 1 confider them really to be, parts of the bearing branches of old difeafed trees. When I hrft obfer- ved the unhealthy ftate of all the young trees of thefe kinds, I fuf- pedled that it arofe from the ufe of difeafed grafts taken from old trees ; and that I fliould be able to propagate all the valuable varieties by buds taken from young newly grafted trees, as thefe can fcarcely be faid to take any of the wood of the old ftock with them : but to remove ftill farther every probability of defedt

which

II

which might be communicated from the old trees, I inferted 'the young (hoots and buds taken from newly grafted trees on other young flocks, and I repeated this procefs fix times in as many years, each year taking my grafts, and buds, from thole inlerted in the year preceding. Stocks of different kinds were alfo ufed, feme were double grafted, others obtained from apple-trees which grow from cuttings, and others from the feeds of each kind afterwards inferted in them, under the idea that there might be fomie- thing congenial to the fruits in thefe. The grafts grew tolerably, and equally well in all, but there

was

12

was always a want of hardnefs and elaflicity in the wood, and at the end of three or four years all be- gan to canker. Several kinds of fruit were fubjeiled to thefe trials, but principally the Redftreak and Golden Pippin, (particularly the lat- ter) and as thefe had formerly grown, well in the fame foil, I began to fufpeft that their difeafes arofe from the debility of age, and would con- fequently be found incurable. The c.mker however, which conftitutes their moft fatal difeafe, often arifes from other caufes. It is always found in thofe varieties which have been long in cultivation, and in

thefe it annually becomes more de-

flrudtive.

13

ftrudlive, and evidently srifes from the age of the variety ; but it often appears to be hereditary. A gravelly cr wet foil, a cold preceding fummer, or a high expofed lituation, add much to it’s virulence. It is moft fatal to young free growing trees of old varieties, and I have often feen the ffcrong llioots of thefe totally defhroyed by it, when the old trees growing in the fame orchard, and from which the grafts had been taken, were nearly free from the difeafe. The latter had ceafed to grow larger, but continued to bear well, not being of very old kinds of fruit : the young flocks, by affording the grafts a preter- natural

14

natural abundance of nourifliment, feemed in this inftance to have brought on the difeafe ; and I have always found that tranfplanting, or a heavy crop of fruit, which checked the growth of the tree, diminidied it’s difpofition to canker. In middle- aged trees of very old kinds a fuc- ceffion of young fhoots is annually produced by the vigour of the flock, and deftroyed again in the fucceeding winter : the quantity of fruit thefe produce is in confequence very fmall. In this difeafe fomething more than a mere extind,ion of vegetable life appears to take place. The internal bark bears marks of fomething fimilar

to erofion, and this, I believe, is the

original

15

original feat of the difeafe, though the wood of the annual Ihoots is foon tinged to the centre. The canker does not appear to me to be ever a primary, or merely local di- feafe, but to arife from the morbid habit of the plant, and to be in- curable by any topical application.

Beingj after much unfuccefsful experience, fatisfied that thofe va- rieties of the apple, of which the original trees had long perifhed from old age, could not be made to grow, I fufpedled that grafts, taken from very young feedling trees, not yet in a bearing flate, could not by any means be made to produce fruit. Having taken cuttings from fome

of

of thefe of two years old, I inferted them in flocks of twenty, which had already produced fruit. I af- terwards frequently tranfplanted, and took every means in my power to make them produce bloflbms ; but though they grew in rich ground, which probably tended to accelerate their maturity, I did not fucceed ’till -the feedling' trees were twelve years old, (the age at which they ufually produce fruit) and then other grafts of the fame kind, which had been inferted but three years before, readily bloflbmed. Other cuttings were inferted in very old flocks, which were regrafted ; thefe grew with cxcefiive vigour, but did not

produce

17

produce blofibms fb loon as the others.

From the refult of thefe experi- ments, and from the general failure of every attempt to propagate every old variety of the apple, I think 1 am juftified in the conclufion that all plants of this Ipecies, how- ever propagated from the fame flock, partake in fome degree of the fame life, and will attend it in the habits of their youth, their maturity and decay j though they will not be any way affected by any incidental injuries the parent tree may fuflain, after they are detached from it. The roots however, and the trunk

adjoining them, appear to poffefs

in

i8

in all trees a greater degree of dura- bility, than the bearing branches, having a power of producing new ones, when the old have been de- llroyed by accident, or even by old age : and I have found that grafts taken from fcions, which have fprung out of the trunks of old un2;rafted apple and pear trees, grew with much greater luxuriance than thofe taken at the fame time from the extre- mities of the bearing branches. The former in their growth affumed the appearance of young feedling flocks, and the flioots of the pear were like thofe covered with thorns. Thofe pro- pagated from the bearing branches

frequently produced fruit the fecond

year.

19

year, but the others remained long unprodudlive. It appears to me ex- tremely probable that fuch trees as the walnut, and mulberry, which do not produce fruit in lefs than twenty years, might be rendered fruitful in one third of that time, by being grafted with cuttings ta- ken from the produdlive branches of an old tree.

The life of every tree appears to be greatly prolonged, when its bran- ches are frequently taken off, and it is compelled to make ufe of the referved buds with which nature has provided it ^ and I have not the C lead:

20

leaf!: doubt but that, in the cul- ture of the apple and pear, the life of each original tree might be pro- longed to thrice its natural period, by robbing it of its branches as foon as the qualities of its fruit were known, and retaining it as a pollard, or more properly in the flate of the ftools in a coppice, which is felled at regular periods : for thefe are

known to pofftfs a much greater

degree of durability than the fame kinds of trees when left in the na- tural Hate, and to produce a vi- gorous fucceflion of branches during many centuries. It is however pro- bable that after a certain period,

C 2 each

2£

each effort of nature will be infe- rior to the preceding; for timber trees, which have fprung from the ftools of an old coppice, are always obferved to attain a fmall ftature, W'ith an early maturity and decay. I believe this obfervation may be extended to every kind of tree, and that the Elm and Poplar, which are now propagated by layers and cut- tings, would attain a much larger ftature, if raifed immediately from feed. The trees thus produced would have the advantages .of a greater vari- ety of form, and of tints in the fpring and autumn foliage, which are always wanting in thofe raifed C 3 from

22

from the fame flock, and which con- ftitute no fmall part of the beauty of forefl trees. Should any valuable variety of the apple be retained in the ftate I have defcribed, 1 would recommend that its branches be ta- ken off every third or fourth year, and ufed for grafts, and that it be never fuffered to fulfil the inten- tions of nature by producing either fruit, or bloflbms : under this mode of treatment I have little doubt but that the fame variety might be pro- pagated through many centuries.

It appears alfo probable that the latter period of the exigence of the apple-tree would be confiderably pro- C 4 longed

longed in a fouthern climate, for all the old kinds grow bell in warm fi- tuations, and the moft difeafed flou- rifhed with the greateft vigour when I trained them to a fouth wall. This mode of culture will not fuit the cider-maker ; but it may probably be adopted with much advantage, when new varieties are -to be obtained from feed ; and the produdlion of thefe muft be the firft thing to engage the attention of the planter of the pre- fent day.

A few varieties of the apple are fufficient for the moft extenfive dif- trict, where the foil is of the fame

kind, and the fituation equally warm ;

but

24

but a very numerous variety will be w^anting to corredl the defefts of every different foil and afpeft. The fruit liquors, for which the county of Hereford has long been celebrated, have always been fuppofed to de- rive their excellence from fome pe- culiar quality in the foil which pro- duces them ; but a preference has been given to foils of oppofite kinds by the planters of different ages. Thofe of the laft century uniform- ly contended in favour of a light fandy loam, and on this their fineft ciders were made : at prefent a foil of a diametrically oppofite quality, a ftrong red clay, is generally preferred.

Much

25

Much of the foil however, which is called clay in Herefordfhire, is pro- perly argillaceous marl ; and fome of it contains a large portion of cal- carious earth, and effervefces ftrong- ly with acids : I have found this foil to form the fubftratum of fome orchards much celebrated for producing ciders of the firffc quali- ty. It appears to have the elfe6t of mitigating the harOinefs of rough auftere fruits ; and as the trees grow with great luxuriance in it, it is perhaps of all foils the bell calculated to anfwer the willies of the planter. But the ftrongeft, and moil highly flavoured liquor, which has hitherto

been

26

been obtained from the apple, is produced by a foil, which differs from any of thofe above mentioned, the fliallow loam on limeftone bafis of the Foreft of Dean. Hence it is evident that thofe qualities of foil, on which the flrength and flavour of the liquor are fuppofed to depend, either are not difcoverable from ex- ternal appearances, or that liquors of nearly equal excellence may be ob- tained from foils eflentially different.

My own experience induces me to accede to the latter opinion, and to believe, that with proper varieties of fruit, the defeats of almoft every foil and afpeit might be correiled, and

that

27

that fine ciders might be made in almoft every part of England. Every variety • of the apple is more or lefs afFedfed by the nature of the foil it grows in ; and the excellence of the ciders formerly made from the Red- ftreak and Golden Pippin, and at prefent from the Stire, in light foils, feems to evince that fome fruits re- ceive benefit from thofe qualities in the foil, by which others are injured. On fome foils the fruit attains a large fize, and is very produdlive of juice, on others it is more dry and highly flavoured. Where the juice is abundant, but weak, which fome- times happens in the deep loam of

the

28

the vallies, dry rich fruits, which are eminent for producing ftrong ci- ders, lliould alone be chofen : and when the afpeft is unfavourable, or the fituation cold and expoled, it feems fufficiently evident, that all fruits, which do not attain an early maturity, fhould be excluded. On fome gravelly foils I have obferved the fruit on the fame tree to ripen very irregularly, and the cider to be (probably in part from this caufe) harfli and rough : thefe defects would, I have no doubt, be removed by planting fuch fruits only as be- come ripe rather early in the feafon, and which are at the fame time ca- pable

29

pable of being long kept to attain a perfed; and r(^ular maturity with- out decaying.

The moft common defed in the orchards of Herefordfhire, and the adjoining counties, is the want of a fufficient degree of warmth to bring their fruits to a perfed date of matu- rity j for aimoft all thefe, having ac- quired their fame in very warm and favourable fituations, have been tranf- ferred from thofe to others, in which, except in very warm fummers, they are never properly ripened. The li- quor produced from them is confe- quently harfli and unpalatable, though it frequently pofTefTes from the nature

of

30

of the fruit, a confiderable degree of ftrength. The want of flavour and riclinefs are always attributed to the foil, and I believe almoft always un- juftly ; for I do not think Here- fordfliire fo much indebted for its fame as a cider country to any pe- culiarity in its foil, as to the pof- leflion of a few very valuable varieties of fruit, for which it appears to be indebted to the induftry of the plan- ters of the laft century. Thole fruits will probably foon ceafe to exifl: ) but as good, and perhaps bet- ter, may be again produced 5 for the Ikill of our forefathers was by no

means equal to their induftry. They

were

31

Were ignorant of the fexual fyftem of plants, and appear to have been regardlefs in what fituadon, or foil, the feeds they lowed had been pro- duced ; expelling every thing from the richnefs of the mould in which thofe, and the plants produced from them, were afterwards placed. They alfo entertained great expedlations from the ule of aromatic infufions, in which they lleeped the feeds, and with which the young plants v/ere afterwards watered. They had pro- bably obferved that the milk and flelh of animals often retained the flavour of the herbs on which they

fed, and therefore concluded that

the

32

the juices of plants and fruits would be affected in a fimilar manner. But the latter, being unprovided with digeftive organs, receive their nourilhment from vegetable fub- ftances, only when thefe have been reduced nearly to their firft princi- ples by putrefaction, and have loft all fpecific character. Another opi- nion entertained by them was that any defeCt, either in the flavour or confiflence of the fruits they had raifed, might be remedied by the kind of flock on which they were afterwards grafted.

I have rcafon to believe from con- liderable experience that their la- bours

33

hours here began where they might as well have ended, and that no permanent change can be made in the future produce of the feeds by any mode of cultivation which can be adopted fubfequent to their being taken from the parent tree. Each feed contains the root, the leaves, and germen of a future plant, and is converted into it by mere evolu- tion j a rich or barren foil affording only a greater or lefs fupply of nou- rifhment to it in its unfolded flate. The growth of the young plants, and- fize of their fruit, will no doubt be greateft in rich foils ; but if the trees, or grafts from them, be after-

wards

34-

wards planted in a poor one, I be- lieve the fruit in this will be,precifely what it would have been, had the trees originally grown in it. I have feveral times obtained two trees by grafting from a feedling plant of two years old, and planted the one in the garden, and the other in the cold clay of a very poor nurfery. The appearance of the former has always been the moft promifing, but on taking grafts from each afterwards, I never could oblerve the leaft dif- ference in the branches or leaves of the plants, and I therefore conclude that their fruit (though none of them have yet produced any) will be in every refpeft the fame.

35

The planters of the laft century- believed that the produce of grafts would be permanently improved by inferting them on flocks of different fpecies, and afterwards propagating from them ; but I am confident that no improvement ever was or will be produced by this prac- tice. They aifo attributed the dif- pofition of their fruits to degenerate when propagated from feed, rather to the adtion of the wild flock, than to the fcrong and natural propenfity of the plant to return to it’s original flate. I believe this opinion to be entirely unfounded, but I cannot affert that it is fo, and when new D kinds

3^

kinds are to be obtained from feeds; ftocks raifed from fuch cultiva- ted fruits as grow from cuttings would perhaps be more eligible, though the goodnefs of the fruit is never affedted by any ftock of the fame fpecies.

When I firft began to fufpeft that my endeavours to propagate the old fruits would not be fuccefsful, I feledted the feeds of fome of the beft kinds with an intention to propagate new ones. But I foon found that many of the young plants (particularly thofe from the Golden Pippin) were nearly as much difeafed as the trees which produced them.

I feveral

37

1 feveral times raifed three or four plants from feeds taken from one apple, and when this had been pro- duced by a difeafed tree, I have had not only as many diftindt varieties as there were feeds, but fome were much difeafed and others apparently healthy ; though the feeds were fown in the fame foil, and the plants after- wards grew within two feet of each other in the nurfery. Grafts having been inferted from each, retained the habits of the tree from which they w'ere taken. Few, however, if any of them appeared to poffefs a fufficient degree of vigour to promife me much fuccels in their cultivation (except D 2

in

in very favourable fituations) flioukf their fruit be fuch as anfwered my wifhes.

Having before obferved that all the old fruits were free from difeafe when trained to a fouth wall, I thought it not improbable that feed- ling plants raifed from them would be equally healthy ; and that this would not be the foie advantage at- tending this mode of propagation, as the trees in this lituation would enjoy all the benefits of a better climate^ whilft their bloflbms, being expanded before thofe of the neigh- bouring orchards, would efcape all chance of being impregnated by the

farina

59

faj-ina of inferior kinds. * With a view to try the efFeds of this ex- periment, I prepared docks of the heft kind of apple I knew, which could be propagated by cuttings,

and after planting them againft a fouth wall in extremely rich mould, I grafted them with the Stire,

D 4 Golden

* The fcience of Botany is fo widely

extended that it is fcarcely neceffary to inform any reader that there are males and females in the vegetable as in the animal world. Each blolTom of the apple and pear contains about twenty of the former and five of the latter. It appears from the experiments of Spallanzani that feveral plants are capable of producing perfe£f feeds independent of the male, but this, I have good reafon to believe, is not the cafe in the apple or pear.

40

Golden Pippin, and a few other fruits whofe time of ripening fuited the fituation in which I wiflied to plant. In the courfe of the enfuing win- ter the young trees were dug up and (their roots having been retrenched) were again planted in the fame places. This mode of treatment had the de- lired effedl of making them produce bloflbms at two years old. I fufFered only one or two fruits to remain on each tree, which in confequence attained nearly three times their com- mon fize with a very high degree of maturity and perfeftion j and the appearance of the plants I raifed from their feeds fo much excelled

any

41

any I had formerly obtained from the fame fruits taken from the or- chard, that I think I can confidently recommend the method I have adop- ted. I had chofen fruits pofleffing excellencies and defeats of oppofite kinds with a wifii to fee, either through the induftry of the Bees or my own, the effefts of a procefs ■fimilar to what is called by bree- ders of animals, eroding the breed. This confills in propagating from males and females not related to each other, and is certainly necef- fary, in thofe animals at leaft in which ftrength and fpirit confti- tute excellencies, to prevent their

degenerating.

42

degenerating. The experiment was eafily made, and the Angular efFeds 1 had feen produced by fimilar ones on other plants,* left me no reafon to doubt that fome effect would be produced in this. From the open ftrudure of the bloffoms of vegeta- bles, and from the numerous tribe of infeds which feed on their honey or farina, a fexual intercourfe muft

of

* BlofToms of a fmall white garden Pea, in which the males had previoufly been defrroyed, were impregnated with the farina of a large clay-coloured kind with purple blofTom. The produce of the feeds thus obtained were of a dark gray colour, but thefe having no fixed habits were foon chan- ged by cultivation into a numerous variety

of

43

of neceffity take place between neigh- bouring plants of the fame fpecies ; and I am much more difpofed to attribute this intercourfe to the in- tention, than to the negligence of nature. My wifhes were, of courte, to correft the defeats and to com- bine the different excellencies of the beft fruits ; and I was not without

• hopes

of very large and extremely luxuriant white ones, which were not only much larger and more produ^five than the original white one, but the number of feeds in each pod were increafed from feven or eight, to eight or nine, and not unfrequentiy to ten. The newly made gray kinds I found were eafily made white again by impregnating their blof- foms with the farina of another white kind. In this experiment the feeds which grew

towards

44

hopes that the offspring would pof- fefs a greater degree of ftrength and vigour, as it is known to do in cul- tivated animals.

A few days before the bloffoms expanded of the kinds from which I wifhed to propagate, I opened the petals and deftroyed the males in all the bloffoms which I fuffered

to

towards the point of the pod, and were by pofition firft expofed to the adtion of the male, would fornetimes produce feeds like it in colour, whilft thofe at the other end would follow the female. In other in fiances the whole produce of the pod would take the colour of one or other of the parents; and I had once an inflance in which two feeds at one end of a pod produced white feeds like the male, two at the other end

gray

45

to remain of one kind, taking great care to leave the females uninjured: and when thefe blofibms were fully expanded, I impregnated half of them with farina taken from another kind of fruit, leaving the other half to the care of the Bees, which were collefted in great numbers, owing to

the

gray like the female, and the central feed took the intermediate lhade, a clay-colour. Something very fimilar appears to take place in animals which produce many young ones at a birth, when the male and female are of oppolite colours. From fome very imperfedl experiments I have made, I am led to fufpe61: that confiderable advantages would be found to arife from the ufe of new or regenerated varieties of wheat ; and thefe are ealily obtained, as this plant readily fports in varieties whenever diiferent kinds are fown together.

46

the fcarcity of flowers at that feafon, and pafled bufily from one bloflbm to another. I had foon the fatisfac- tion to obferve that every fruit which I had impregnated grew rapid- ly, whilft haif of thofe on the other tree, which had remained in their natural flate failed, with every one of thofe left to the care of the Bees. Whence I conclude that thefe infedls are not fo good carriers of the fa- rina of plants as is, I believe, ge- nerally fuppofed by natural ifts. Had the unmutilated bloffoms been more numerous on the adjoining tree, or had the neighbouring orchards been in flower, the event had how- ever probably been different. The

47

plants 1 have obtained from the fruits on which this experiment has been made are certainly much the moffc promifing I have yet feen, but whether they will remain free from hereditary difeafe and debility or not, remains to be proved. Every feed, though taken from the fame apple, furnifhes a new and diftinft variety ; and fome of thefe will grow with more luxu- riance than others, and the fruits produced by the different plants will poffefs different degrees of m.erit ; but an eftimate may be made of their good and bad qualities at the conclufion of the firft fummer, by the refemblance the leaves bear to

the

48

the highly cultivated or wild kinds ; as has been remarked by the writers, on this fubjeft, of the laft century. The plants whole buds in the annual wood are full and prominent are ufually more produdive than thofe whofe buds are fmall and Ihrunk into the bark, but their future pro- duce will depend much on the pow- er the bloflbms pollefs of bearing cold, and this power varies in the different varieties, and can only be known from experience. Thole which produce their leaves and blolToms rather early in the Ipring are gene- rally to be preferred, for though they are more expofed to injury

from

49

from froft, they lefs frequently futfer from the attacks of inleds, the more common caufe of failure.

The leaves of young feedling plants annually change, become more thick and flethy, and affume more the charader of cultivated kinds. Thele external changes indicate fome inter- nal ones in the conflitution of the plant, which may poffibly be fimilar in their nature to thofe which take place in animals between their infancy, and the time when they become capable of propagating their fpecies.

The properties which conftitutc

a good

50

a good apple for cider, and for the defert, are -feldoni found in the lame fruit, though they are not incom- patible with each other. The firm- nefs of the pulp, which is eflential in the eating apple, is ufelefs in the cider fruit, in the beft kinds of which it is often tough, dry, and fibrous ; and colour which is juftly difregarded in the former is amongft the firft good qualities of the latter. Some degree of aftringency allb which is injurious to the eating fruit is always advantageous to the other. Amongft the endlefs variety of kinds which are found in Herefordfhire very few ever deferved the attention

of

51

of the planter, and the greater part of thofe are only capable of attain- ing a proper ftate of maturity in very warm fituations. When the rind and pulp are green the cider will always be thin, weak, and co- lourlefs i and when thefe are deeply tinged with yellow, it will, however manufadlured or in whatever foil it may have grown, always poflefs colour with either ftrength or rich- nefs. The fubftances which confti- tute the ftrength and body in this liquor generally exift in the fame proportion with the colour, though there does not appear to be any necef- fary connexion between the tinging matter and the other component parts.

52

The apple being moft eafily pro- pagated by grafting, the means of obtaining proper flocks muft be amongfl the firft things to occupy the attention of the planter. A preference has generally, and juftly, been given to thofe raifed from the feeds of the native kind, or crab, as being more hardy and durable than thofe produced from the apple. The habits as well as the difeafes of plants are often hereditary, and attention fliould therefore be paid to the ftate of the tree from which the feeds are taken : it fliould be large and of free growth, and rather iii a growing ftate than one of matu- rity or decay. The crab-trees which

53

ftand in cultivated grounds generally grow more freely and attain a larger ftature than thofe in the woods, and therefore appear to claim a preference. The feeds lliould be taken from the fruit before it is ground for vinegar, and fown in beds of rich mould an inch deep. From thefe the plants fliould be removed in the following .autumn to the nurfery, and planted in rows at three feet diftance from each other and eighteen inches between each plant. Being here properly prote£ted from Cattle and Hares, they may remain ’till they become large enough to be planted out, but the ground E % of

54

of the nurfery, which fhould always be of good quality, muft be regu* Jarly worked and kept free from weeds.

The propriety of grafting near the ground, or at the height of fix or feven feet, will depend on the kind of fruit to be propagated, whether it be quite new and juft beginning to bear, or a middle-aged variety. In new and luxuriant va- rieties it will be advantageous to graft when the ftocks are three years old, as the growth of fuch will be more rapid fmooth and ftraight than that of the Crab, and there will be no danger of theft being

injured

55

injured by beginning to bear too early : but middle-aged kinds will be mod; fuccefsfully propagated by planting fhocks of fix or feven feet height, and letting them remain ungrafted ’till they become firmly rooted in the places in which the trees are to ftand. One graft only fhould be inferted in each ftock, for when more are ufed they are apt to divide when loaded with fruit, and to cleave the ftock, having no natural bond or connection with each other. When the ftocks are too large for a fingle fcion, 1 would recommend that the grafts be infer- ted in the branches and not in the E 3 principal

56

principal ftem. Could the future produce of young feedling trees be afcertained with accuracy at four or five years old, much advantage would arife from inferting buds in the annual (hoots of flocks of the fame age at the height of fix or feven feet j as the planter might then be in pofleflion of a number of trees of any variety juft at the age when it arrived at the bearing ftate. But though the quality of the future produce can not be very accurately known, the experiment ftill appears eligible, for the trees will attain the fame height and fize in the fame number of years with

thofe

57

thofe which have been left in their natural ftate, and, (fhould their fruit not be found valuable) will be juft as proper as thofe to be grafted in the manner recommended with mid- dle-aged varieties. An opinion was formerly entertained, and does not at prefent appear to be quite obfo- lete, that fruits might be improved by this procefs of double-grafting j from the changes the fap was fup- poled to undergo in it’s pallage through a ftem belonging to different kinds of fruit. But I am inclined to think that no fuch changes take place, and that the leaf is the chief laboratory in which nature prepares E4 the

58

the juices of plants, and fits thofe of the fame flock to nourifh fruits of of different forms, flavours, and co- lours. The width and thicknefs of the leaf generally indicate the fize of the future apple, and the colour of the black cherry and purple grape may be known by it’s autumnal tints, even in plants which have fprung from feed in the preceding fpring. The tinging matter in the leaves of thefe is probably of the fame kind as that to which the fruits will in future owe their colours. I have fome reafon to believe that each variety of fruit requires it’s own peculiar leaf ■, for I have feveral

times

59

times grafted the branches of young apple and pear-trees clofe above fome buds containing bloffoms, and thefe in four inftances produced fruit j which grew well as long as I left any of their own leaves on the tree, but when I took thefe away, and none remained but thofe of the grafts, which were of other kinds, they withered and fell off. Whether their falling was occafioned by the want of proper nourifhment or by fome other caufe, is a queflion on which I am not prepared to decide.

The inexperienced planter will fuppofe that much time will be loft in propagating new kinds, as thefe

■will

6o

will not produce fruit fo foon as thofe which have been long in cul- tivation: but he will foon find that the fruit of fmall young trees by no means repays him for the injury they fuftain in growth. Suppofing the grafts to be taken from feed- ling trees of four or five years old, and inferted in flocks of the fame age ; thefe will generally pro- duce fruit i^ feven or eight years from the time of their being grafted, and they cannot in lefs time gain fufficient height and ftrength to be removed from the nurfery, and afterwards to be firmly rooted in the orchard j though their growth

will

will be much more rapid than that of older kinds.

It has been ftrongly recommended to remove the young trees once * or twice during the time they remain in the nurfery, under the idea of increafing the number of their roots, but I think this praftice only eligi- ble with trees which do not readily grow when tranfplanted. I have always found the growth of young apple-trees to be much retarded, and a premature difpolition to bloflbm

to

* See Marfh all’s rural economy of Glou- cefterfliire and introductory Iketches towards a topographical hiftory of the county of Hereford, by Rev. J. Lodge.

6z

to be brought on by it, and I could not afterwards obferve that thofe trees, which had been twice removed, grew better than others. It has alfo been fuppofed that many fmall roots proceeding immediately from the trunk are in the future growth of the tree to be preferred to a few large ones, but as the large roots of neceffity branch into fmaller ones, and probably extend to a greater diftance, the advantages of more tranfplantations than from the feed-bed to the nurlery and thence to the orchard may reafon- ably be queftioned.

The

^3

The apple-tree fucceeds beft in fituations which are neither high nor remarkably low. In the former it’s bloflbms are frequently injured by cold winds and in the latter by fpring-frofts, particularly when the trees are planted in the loweft part of a confined valley. A fouth or fouth-eaft alpeft is generally prefer- red, on account of the turbulence of the weft, and the coldnefs of north winds, but orchards fucceed well in all, and where the violence of the weft-wind is broken by an intervening rife of ground, a fouth- weft afpedt will be found equal to any. The trees attain their largefl

ftature

64

ftature in a deep ftrong loam, but will grow well in all rich foils, which are neither exceffively fandy nor wet. An orchard generally is moft produ6tive of fruit when it is fituated near the fold-yard and is in confequence much trod and ma- nured by the Cattle in the win- ter. The ground in which old apple-trees have grown is efteemed very unfavourable to young ones : when from contiguity to the houle an orchard is planted in this kind of ground, the pear and apple Ihould be made to fucceed each other, as has been judicioufly recommended by Mr. Mardiall

In

65

In the choice of fruits for every lituation, attention fhould be paid to feled; fuch as are fufficiently early to ripen well in it. A cider- apple may be fafely pronounced to be too late for the fituation it oc- cupies, when it does not become yellow before the end of Odfober, and I do not know any difadvan- tages attending an earlier maturity, provided the kinds of fruit be capa- ble of being kept a few weeks. An opinion, I have obferved, pre- vails that the liquors obtained from all early fruits are without flrength, or body, but the ftrongeft cider yet knowh is produced by one of

thefe

66

thefe, the Stire. In cold and un- favourable fituations thole fruits will bell; repay the planter which in their general charafter appear nearly rela- ted to the native kind or crab, for though the flavour of thele be aullere and ungrateful to the palate, the ciders produced from fome of them, when they have been tho- roughly ripened, are often found fmooth and generous. But I would recommend the grafts to be taken from an improved crab, and not from a degenerated apple j for the former will polTefs much of the hardinels and vigour, whilft the latter will often inherit the debility and

difeafes.

6;

difeafes, of the parent-tree. Proper fruits of this kind might probably be obtained from a crab of a deep yellow colour, and in tafte rather aftringent than acid, trained to a fouth-wall and impregnated with the farina of a rich early apple in the manner already recommended. I am well fatisfied that fruits thus obtain- ed would flourifli in many litua- tions where kinds which have been more improved by cultivation would not fucceed, and when old trees, whofe branches have been taken olf, are to be regrafted, I have no doubt but that fruits of this kind juft ar- rived at the bearing age might be F ufed

68

ui’ed with very great advantage. The leaf and general habit of an improved crab will indicate a worfe fruit, and of a degenerated apple a better, than the trees will after- wards produce.

The fruit-trees of Herefordfhire are generally planted in quincunx, or in ftraight lines croffing each other at right angles. The former method is preferred in the hop-yards and pafture, and the latter in tillage, being lefs inconvenient to the plough- man. But it appears to me that any given number of trees planted near each other in rows, with wide intervals, would be lefs injurious

either

69

either to pafture and tillage than in either of the preceding methods i The trees in each row fhould in this cafe be of the fame variety of fruit, that no one by pofleffing greater vigour and luxuriance might overgrow and fhade another, and that the whole row might appear a continuation of the fame tree. The intervals between would afford confiderable fpace for the plough or pafture, and every tree having room to extend it’s branches on each fide would be more protedted than injured by it’s neighbours, and would attain nearly, or quite, as large a ftature as if intirely infulated. The F 2 cider-maker

70

cider-maker would alfo be enabled to collect with convenience each kind by itfelf, and might after- wards mix them according to his judgment, or caprice. Unlefs an orchard be very large not more than five, or fix, kinds fhould be planted in it, and if fome of thele be fuch as blolTom early, and others late, the planter will have as good a chance of an annual fupply of fruit, as a larger number of kinds would afford him.

The diftance between each row, as well as the fpace between each tree, muft depend on the fituation and foil. When the former is high

and

71

and expofed, the trees fliould be clofeiy planted to afford each other protection ■, and when the latter is poor and fliallow their growth will of courfe be diminilhed, and they will confequently require lefs room. But in low and ffieltered fituations, and deep rich foils, where the trees are little expofed to winds and at- tain a large fize, wider intervals muft be allowed them. In the for- zuer inflances a diftance of twelve yards between each row, and half as much between each tree, will be fufficient ; in the latter twenty-four yards between each row and eight between each tree, will not be found F 3 too

72

too much, particularly if the ground is intended for tillage' after the trees have grown to a conliderable fize. An opinion rather generally prevails at prefent in favour of planting tin- gle trees at twenty or twenty-five yards diftance from each other on arable grounds, and tpecious reafons may be offered in defence of this pradtice : the roots, as well as the branches, are at perteft liberty to extend themfelves in every direction, but the latter are every way expo- fed to the florms of autumn and to the cold winds of the fpring; and trees of more hardy kinds than the apple, are well known to grow

much

73

much better when planted near c- nough ■ to afford each other protec- tion, than when totally infulated. It may be fuppofed that trees growing in diftant rows will not regularly occupy the whole furface of the ground with their roots, but thefe always extend far beyond the bran- ches, and will meet acrofs very wide intervals. The growth of every infulated tree is more low and fpread- ing, and confequently more injurious to corn, or herbage, growing under it. Where the mode of cultivation will admit, the rows fhould always extend from north to fouth, as in this diredion each part of every tree F 4 will

74

will receive the moil equal portions of light and heat.

An orchard is generally raifed with mofl fuccefs and at lead ex- pence in a hop-yard j the ground under this culture being always well tilled and manured, as well as fenced againft all kinds of cattle, Confidera- ble advantages may be obtained by planting twice the number, which are to remain, of trees in each row, ufing two kinds of fruit, and putting each alternately. The kind which fucceeds bed may be left, and the other be removed to the tillage. Trees of a large fize may be tranlplanted without the lead danger in the au- tumn,

75

tumn, particularly if the roots be Ihortened in the preceding winter. The fubfoil of the ground which fuits the hop is not unfrequently too moift for the apple, and this defect is rarely removed by draining. Where a hop-yard is wanting trees may be raifed in tillage or pafture, but the expence of defending them properly will be confiderable, parti- ticularly in the latter, in which though ever fo well defended they ufually make but a flow progrefs. In tillage the leaft expenlive, and perhaps the beft method of raifing an orchard will be to exclude every fpecies of cattle, except fheep and

P'gs.

7^

pigs, and to defend the trees only with fmall branches bound round their ftems, as in the broom or befom of the farm-houfe. This fence muft begin dole to the ground and rife to a greater height than the fheep or pigs, or the chains of the horfes in ploughing can reach ; and to preferve the bottoms of the ftems from injury by the plough, a ftrong oak ftake thould be driven into the ground on each fide of every tree. The fmall branches which defend the ftems will require to be replaced every other year, but this will be done at a very trifling expence.

When a plantation is to be made

in

77

in pafture ground, timber-frames wiil be found neceffary. The kind moft in ufe at prefent are made with two flat pofts placed with their wide furfaces parallel to each other at two feet apart, having boards nailed to their edges on each fide with fmall diftances between them. The trees are here perfectly protedied from cattle, but when their branches extend, themfelves, and become agi- tated by the wind, the ftems can fcarcely efcape being rubbed againft the frames. Another and I think a much better kind of frame is made with three pofts placed trian- gularly round the tree, approaching

each

78

each other at the roots and diverg- ing confiderably upwards. This ap- pears more expenfive than the other, but timber of much inferior value may be ufed. In this method of planting the formality of the row may be dilpenfed with, but the trees will fucceed much better if three or five be planted near each other with wide intervals, than if each Hand entirely alone.

Little care is required, though more than is generally given in He- refordfhire, in tranfplanting the crab- flocks or apple-trees ; but in remov- ing from the nurlery to the orchard attention fliould be paid to leave

the

79 -

the roots as long and as little injured as poffible, and not on any account to bury them deeper than they for- merly grew. The foil round each tree fliould be dug eighteen inches deep and four or five feet wide, placing the fod, if the ground be pafture, in the bottom of the holes, as recommended by Mr. Marfhal. If the holes in this cafe be made fix months before the time of plant- ing, and if a fmall quantity of rich mould be mixed with that of the field immediately round the roots, it will much accelerate the future growth of the trees, but it will rarely be advifable to make ufe of any very

delicate

8o

delicate or highly cultivated fruits, when this method of planting is a- dopted. The branches of the Trees, whether grafted or not, and where ever planted fhould be much re- trenched, and the mould may be raifed a few inches round the fterhs to prevent their being thaken by the wind. A flake to each will alfo be of much fervice, but great care muft be taken to prevent the bark of the tree receiving injury by being rubbed by it. Wherever a a plantation is to be made, the autumn is the moft elegible feafon; but if from any caufe the planting be delayed ’till fpring, the trees

will

8i

will lucceed perfeftly well, if the foil or fucceeding feafon be not remarkably dry. When the trees have once taken root in the hop- yard or tillage, they will not require any thing more than protedlion from the planter, but in the paflure the ground fhould be annually dug three or four feet wide round each during the firft four or five years.

The apple-tree being naturally very full of branches frequently re- quires the opperation of pruning, and when properly executed great advantages will be found to arife from it ; but as it is generally per- formed in Hereford Ihire, the injury

the

82

the tree fuftains, is much greater than the benefit it receives. The ignorant pruner gets into the middle of it, and lays about him to right and left, ’till he leaves only fmall tufts of branches at the extremities of the large boughs. Thefe branches, now receiving the whole nourifhment of the tree, of courfe increafe rapid- ly, and foon become, when loaded with fruit or fnow, too heavy for the long naked boughs, which are of neceffity full of dead knots from the former labours of the pruner, to fupport. Many hundred trees annually perifh from this caufe. I believe the prefent fyftem of pruning

ought

83

ought to be precifely reverfed, and that the pruner fliould confine himfelf almofl; entirely to the extre- mities of the bearing branches, which are always too full of wood, and leave the internal part of the tree, for reafons I lhall mention when Ipeaking of blights, nearly as he finds it. Large branches fiiould rarely, or never, be amputated. In the gar-^ den-culture of the apple, where the trees are retained as dwarfs or efpa- liers, the more vigoroufly growing kinds are often rendered unproduc- tive by the exceffive, though necef- fary, ufe of the pruning-knife. I have always fucceeded in making G trees

84

frees of this kind fruitful by dig- ging them up, and replacing them with fome frefh mould in the fame fituation. The too great luxuriance of growth is checked, and a dilpofiti- on to bear is in conlequence brought on.

Through the negligence of the Herefordlhire farmers their orchards are often greatly injured by mifle- toe and mofs. The firft of thefe plants is eafily removed, and as it makes excellent food for ewes in the fpring, it is almoft always worth the expence of colleding at that leafon. Mofs appears to conflitute a fymptomatic, rather than a primary,

difeafe

§5

difeafe in fruit-trees : it is often brought on by a damp, or unculti- vated foil, by the age of the variety of fruit, and by the want of air and light in clofely planted unpru- ned orchards. In thefe cafes it can only be deftroyed by removing the caufe to which it owes it’s exift- ence.

Blights are produfiBd" by a va- riety of caufes, by infefts, by an excefs of heat or cold, of drought or moifture j for thefe neceflarily derange and deftroy the delicate organization of the bloffom : but I believe the common opinion that they arife from fome latent noxious G 2 quality

86

quality in the air, or from lightning, to be totally unfounded. The term “ Blight ” is very frequently ufed by the gardener and farmer without any defined idea being annexed to it. If the leaves of their trees be eat- en by the caterpillar, or contrac- ted by the aphis ; if the bloflToms fall from the ravages of infedls, or without any apparent caufe, the trees are equally blighted : and if an eaft wind happen to have blown, the infedls, (or at leaft their eggs) whatever be their fize, are fuppofed to have been brought by it. This opinion, which was abfurdly enter- tained by the philofophers of the

lafl:

87

laft age, probably has owed it’s exif- tence to the hazy appearance of the air, which ufually accompanies warm days and frofty nights with a north- eafl wind in the fpring. This weather is injurious to the bloflbm of every tree, and particularly fo to that of the apple ; for the warmth of the day hatches the eggs of the infebt which breeds in it, whilft the cold- nefs of the night, by checking the progrefs of the fap,. retains the blof- fom in it’s half-expanded ftate to form a nidus for it. This * infecTt G 3 which

* The leaves and bloiToms of the apple- tree are fometinies entirely deflroyed by a numerous tribe of caterpillars, fome kinds of

which

88

which affumes the winged ftate in July, is a fmall brown beetle, and it then probably lays thofe eggs on the trees, which, if the fucceeding feafon be unfavourable, prove de- flrudive of the future crop of fruit. The bloflbms of the apple appear alfo to fail not unfrequently from the want of impregnation, j- when

the

which become moths in the fummer and autumn, and others in the fucceding fpring. Thefe however do not in any exclufive degree belong to the apple-tree, being found

on

f The fruit being merely the capfule or feed-veflel, probably fometimes attains ma- turity without being impregnated, but I believe it will in this, as in fome other

plants,

89

the weather is unufually hot and dry, or when cold winds prevail ; for I have often obferved the farina to wither and die on the autherje in fuch feafons. In each of thefe ca- fes I have always feen thofe trees G 4 moft

on many other trees ; but there is an ex- tremely minute infetfl: of the cochineal tribe, which has lately appeared on the apple-trees near London, and has done incredible da- mage to them. Small downy fpots appear on the flems and branches of the trees, each

of

plants, be without feeds. I have often at- tentively deftroyed the male blolToms of the cucumber and the antherae of the pea ; when the fruit of the one, and the pod of the other, generally attained their ufual lize, but the feeds remained nearly as they were before the bloffoms expanded.

90

moft produdive, which, having had the good fortune to efcape the de- folating hand of the pruner, were moderately full of wood, and capa- ble of affording their bloffoms fome protedion from frofl and cold winds,

or

of which covers a multitude of thefc infeds, which are attached to the bark by their fuckers and fed by it’s juices. The trees, on which they abound, appear like tender exotics, the points of whofe branches have been killed by the preceding winter. I am informed by Sir Jofeph Banks that thefe mfe61:s were firft obferved in the neigh- bourhood of Kennington, in 1788, and that they were faid to have been imported from France, but he could not obtain any infor- mation from his correfpondents in that country of their exiftence there. They

have

or exceffive heat. I would not be underftood to diiapprove of judicious pruning, on the contrary I think it ought very frequently to be done ; but the tree ought always to retain much of the clofe branchy growth,

which

have fince gradually extended themfelves round the centre where they firft appeared, and no means of deftroying them have been yet difcovered. Apple-trees fhould not on any account be brought into the cider-coun- ties from any neighbourhood where thefe infedls are fufpedfed to exifl, and every precaution fhould be taken to prevent their introdudfion. It is the opinion of the moft experienced nufferymen round London, that all the apple-trees in that neighbourhood will be deftroyed in a few years, if the infedfs increafe as rapidly as they have lately done-

92

which it’s nature always gives it. The pruning-knife may however be ufed with fome degree of freedom on young trees, for the branches of thefe foon repair any breaches which may be made in them ; but if an old tree, or one which has ceafed to grow larger, be fo thinned as to admit of a free current of air through it, it is ruined for ever. It has been fuppofed that the fruit, which ftands expoied to the fun and air on the outfides of the branches, is alone capable of making fine cider, but experience by no means juftifies this conclufion.

A part of the Herefordfhire far-

mers

93

mers are extremely well Ikilled in the management of the fruit, and in the fubfequent management of their cider ; but the greater number are almoft entirely ignorant of both. To the latter clafs only the following ob- fervations, in which I fliall do little more than detail a part of the prac- tice of the former, are addreffed.

The merit of cider will always depend much on the proper mix- ture, or rather on proper reparation of the fruits. Thofe w'hofe rinds and pulp are tinged with green, or red without a mixture of yellow (for that colour will difappear in the firft ftages of fermentation) Ihould

be

94

be carefully kept apart from fuch as are yellow, or yellow intermixed with red. The latter kinds, which fhould remain on the trees ’till ripe enough to fall without being- much fliaken, are alone capable of making fine cider. Each kind fhould be collefted feparately, and kept ’till it becomes perfectly mellow. For this purpofe, in the common praftice of the country, it is placed in heaps of ten inches or a foot thick, and ex- pofed to the fun and air, and rain; not being ever covered except in very fevere frofts. The fbrength and flavour of the future liquor are how- ever increafed by keeping the fruit

under

95

under cover fome time before it is ground ; but unlefs a fituation can be afforded it, in which it is expofed to a free current of air, and where it can be fpread very thin, it is apt to contract an unpleafant fmell, which will much affeft the cider pro- duced from it. Few farms are pro- vided with proper buildings for this purpole on a large fcale, and the improvement of the liquor will not nearly pay the expence of eredting them. It may reafonably be fuppo- fed that much water is abforbed by the fruit in a rainy feafon, but the quantity of juice yielded by any given quantity of fruit will be found to

diminifh

96

diminifhj as it becomes more mellow, even in very wet weather, provided it be ground when thoroughly dry. The advantages therefore of covering the fruit will probably be much lefs, than may at firft fight be expedled.

No criterion appears to be known, by which the moll proper point of maturity in the fruit can be afcer- tained with accuracy ■, but I have good reafon to believe that it im- proves, as long as it continues to acquire a deeper fhade of yellow. Each heap fhould be examined prior to it’s being ground, and any de- cayed or green fruit carefully taken away. The expence of this will be

d ver)'

97

very fmall, and will be amply repaid by the excellence of the liquor, and the eafe with which too great a de- gree of fermentation will be preven- ted. Each kind of fruit fhould either be ground feparately, or mixed with fuch only as becomes ripe pre- cifely at the fame time ; but it is from the former practice that fine ciders, of different flavours and degrees of ftrength, are beft obtained from the fame orchard. In grinding, the fruit fhould be reduced, as nearly as pofilble, to an uniform mats, in which the rind and kernels are fcarce- ly difcoverable. For this purpofe the Herefordfhire mill, which is made

with

98

with a large ftone, fimilar to thofe ufed for grinding corn, fupported on it’s edge, and drawn round a circular trough in which the apples are placed, appears beft calculated. Iron mills have been tried, but this metal is foluble in the acid of apples, to which it communicates a brown colour, and an unpleafant tafte. No combination has, I believe, been af- certained to take place between this acid and lead, but as the calx of this metal readily diflblves in, and communicates an extremely poifon- ous quality to the acetous juice of the apple, it fhould never be fuffered to come into conta<S, with the fruit, liouor.

99

After the fruit has been thoroughly- ground, the reduced pulp fliould remain twenty-four hours before it is taken to the prefs. If the fruit has been thoroughly ripe and mellow, a large quantity of the pulp will pafs through the hair-cloth which is ufed in preffing, and as this will be thrown off in the firffc fliages of fermentation, the calks, in which the liquor is placed to ferment, fliould want about a gallon each of being full. Some advantages are found in the ufe of open veflels, but thefe can only be ufed under cover, and are therefore proper only where the quantity of liquor to be

manufactured is fmall.

H

ICO

The fermentation of liquors has been divided into three ftages, the vinous, the acetous, and the putri- faftive. The firft has been obfer- ved to take place in fuch bodies only as contain a conliderable por- tion of fugar, and it is always at- tended with the decompofition of that fubftance. The liquor gradually lofes it’s fweetnefs, acquires an intoxicating quality, and by diftilla- tion affords a greater or lefs quantity of ardent fpirit, according to the quantity of fugar it originally con- tained, and the fkill with which the procefs has been conduced. When this fermentation proceeds with too

much

lOI

much rapidity, it is often confoun- ded with the acetous, but the pro- duds of that are totally different. A violent degree of fermentation however, tho’ purely vinous, is ex- tremely injurious to the ftrength and permanence of cider, probably owing to a part of the ardent fpirit being difcharged along with the dif- engaged air.

The acetous fermentation ufuallv

•/

fucceeds the vinous 3 but it will fometimes precede it, when the liquor is in fmall quantity, and expofes a large furface to the air. In this, vital air is abforbed from the atmof- phere, and the ardent fpirit, vegeta- H 2 ble

102

ble acid, and fugar, if any remain, are alike converted into vinegar.

In the putrifaftive procefs which follows the acetous, the vinegar lofes it’s acidity, becomes foul and vifcid, and emits air of an olfenfive fmell : an earthy fediment fubfides, and the remaining liquid is little but water.

The juice of the apple in it’s unfermented ftate confifts of fugar, vegetable mucilage, acid, water, it’s tinging matter, the principle of fmell, and, I believe, of aftringency.* Of

thele

* I life the term ‘‘ principle of aftringency^’ but I do not know that the aftringency of

fruits

thefe component parts, the firft only is known to be capable of producing ardent Ipirit, and it might thence be inferred that the ftrongeft ciders would be afforded by the fweetefl fruits : but the juice of thefe generally remains defedtive in what is termed “Body” in liquors, and it is extremely apt to pafs from the faccharine to the acetous flate. Much of the ftrength of cider is fuppofed by the Herefordfhire far- mers to be derived from the rind H 3 and

fruits re tides in the fame fubftance which is found in the hulhs of nuts, and in green tea and other vegetables, and to which Chy mills have given this name.

104

and kernels of the fruit, and hence arifes their great attention to grind it thoroughly j the ftalks alfo are neccffariiy reduced, when the apples are thoroughly ground, and I fufpeft that the body of the liquor is ftrengthened, and it’s flavour impro- ved, by the aftringent juice of thefe: yet it does not appear probable that either of thefe contains any faccharine matter.

The ftrongeft ciders (and I believe the ftrongefb wines) are made from fruits which poflTels fome degree of aftringency ; and this quality is fo neceflfary in the Pear, that I have never known a Angle inftance in

which

which perry, made from fruits that were without it, did not become four before the middle of the fuc- ceeding fummer. It may be prefer- ved by a mixture of the hardi juice of the crab, and this, I imagine, is effefted more by the aftringent than by the faccharine matter, the latter contains. If I am right in this conjedture, it will not appear very improbable that the quality Hops poffefs of preferving malt-liquors in the vinous ftate, depends on their containing the aftringent principle. This is not readily difcovered on the palate, but if a plate of polifhed iron be boiled a few minutes in a H 4 ftrong

io6

llrong decoction of them, the lofs of it’s polifli, and a black colour communicated to thofe in contaft, feem to evince it’s prefence : the decod ion however does not ad very powerfully on a folution of martial vitriol

The time which will elapfe before the vinous fermentation takes place in the juice of the apple, is ex- tremely uncertain. If the fruit be immature, and the weather warm, it will commence in lefs than twenty- four hours ; but when that has been thoroughly ripened, and the weather proves cold •, it will remain a week.

or

or fortnight, or longer, without the leaft apparent change ; particularly in the juice of thofe fruits, which produce the ftrongeft ciders. In the commencement of fermentation the dimentions of the liquor are enlarged, an inteftine motion is obtervable in the catlc, and bubbles of fixed air begin to rife and break on the furface. If the calk be placed in a vault, or other fituation where there is but little change of temperature, the fermentation will generally proceed ’till the whole of the faccharine part is decompofed, and the liquor is become rough, and unpalatable to thofe unaccuftomed to it in this flate.

But

io8

But as cider, which contains a con- liderable degree of fweetnefs, is moft valuable, much attention is employed to prevent an excefs of fermentation. This is ufually done by placing the calks in the open air, which is much the moft efFedtual method ; or in fheds through which there is a free current of it, and by drawing off the liquor from one calk to another, and fometimes by expoling it to the air in flat Ihallow velTels, when- ever the fermentation proceeds with too much rapidity. By the firll of thefe means the liquor is kept cool, and it’s decompolition is in confe- quence retarded ; but the elFedt of

racking

109

racking off, unlefs the liquor be bright, does not appear to be fo well afeertained. It is generally done with a view to cool it, but heat is rarely, or never, difengaged in the fermentation of cider ; and the air through which it paffes, when the operation is performed in the day, is ufually feveral lines warmer than the body it is fuppofed to cool. Some degree of cold will no doubt be produced by evaporation, but never fufficient to produce the total fufpenfion of fermentation, which takes place after the liquor has been drawn off from one calk to another. It no doubt gives out fomething

to,

I 10

to, and may poffibly receive' fome- thing from, the atmofpheric air ; with which it can never have been properly in contadt, having been always co- vered with a ftratum of fixed air. This may at any time be proved by holding a lighted candle clofe to it’s furface,_ where it will be immediately extinguiflied.

The progrefs of fermentation, if the weather be cool and fettled, will generally become entirely fufpended in a few days j and the liquor will then feparate from it’s impurities. Whatever is Ipecifically lighter will rife to it’s furface, whilft the heavier

lees

1 1 1

lees will defcend to the bottom j leaving the intermediate liquid per- feftly clear and bright. This muffc inftantly be drawn off, and not fulFered on any account again to mingle with it’s lees ; for thefe pof- fefs much the lame properties as yeaft, and would inevitably bring on a lecond fermentation. The beft criterion to judge of the proper moment to rack off will be the brightnefs of the liquor ; but this is always attended with external marks, which ferve as guides to the cider- maker. The difcharge of fixed air, which always attends the progrefs of fermentation, has entirely cealed

and

I I 2

and a thick cruft, formed of frag- ments of the reduced pulp raifed by the buoyant air it contains, is colleAed on the furface. The clear liquor being drawn off into another calk, the lees are put into fmall bags, fimilar to thofe ufed for jellies : through thefe whatever liquor the lees contain gradually filtrates, be- coming perfecflly bright j and it is then returned to that in the calk, in which it has the effed, in fome meafure of preventing a fecond fer- mentation. It appears to have un- dergone a confiderable change in the procefs of filtration. It’s colour is remarkably deep, it’s tafte harlh,

and

■ . 'i '

II3

and flat, and it has a flrong tendency to . become acetous ; probably by having given out fixed, and abior- bed vital, air. Should it become, acetous, which it will frequently do in forty-eight hours, it muft not on any account be put into the calk. If the cider, after being racked off, remains bright and quiet, nothing more is to be done to it, ’till the fucceeding fpringj but if a fcum collefts on the furface, it muft be immediately racked off into another calk ; as this would produce bad effeds, if fuffered to fink. If a difpofition to ferment with violence, again appears, it will be necelTary

to

to rack off from one cafk to another, as often as a hifling noife is heard. The fhrength of cider is much re- duced by being frequently racked off, but this arifes only from a larger portion of fugar remaining unchan- ged, which adds to the fweetnefs, at the expence of the other quality. The juice of thofe fruits, which, produce very flrong ciders, often remains muddy during the whole winter, and much attention muff: frequently be paid to prevent an excefs of fermentation. The ffnoke of fulphur is fometimes ufed, and bullock’s blood to render it bright : the latter is a difgufting pradlice,

and

and both are unneceffary when the liquor has been made from good fruits, properly ripened.

The calks, into which the liquor is put whenever racked off, mull always have been thoroughly fcalded, and dried again ; and each lliould want feveral gallons of being full, to ex- pofe a larger furface to the air. Should the weather be uncommonly cold, a covering of ftraw will be neceffary. In the end of march, or the beginning of April, the cider is generally fit to be taken from the hands of the manufacturer, and it is then put into the calks in . which it is to remain. Thefe are now to J be

be filled entirely, and flopped as foon as all danger of further fermen- tation is over ; which is fuppofed to be whenever a blue film begins to colledl on the furface of the liquor. It will however be proper to- put the bungs in fomewhat earlier, to ex- clude the external airj but they fliould not be driven in firmly, left fer- mentation fhould recommence, and endanger the calks. A fmall quantity of fpirit is fometimes added ; and when fcarcely any degree of fermen- tation has taken place, and the liquor in confequence retains nearly the tafte of the unfermented, juice, it may probably be ufed with advan- tage :

tage: but when it has fermented properly, it is always unneceflary j and I have lometimes known a re- newed and violent fermentation pro- duced by it, which has proved fatal to the liquor.

Ciders, which have been made from good fruits, and have been properly manufadlured, will retain a conliderable portion of fweetnefs, in the calk, to the end of three or four years i but the faccharine part, on which alone their fweetnefs de- pends, gradually difappears ; probably by a decompolition and difcharge of fixed air, fimilar to that which takes place in the earlier flages of I 2 their

their fermentation. Cider is gene- rally in the beft ftate to be put into the bottle at two years old j where it will foon become brilk and fparkling; and if it poflefles much richnefs, it will remain with fcarcely any fenfible change during twenty,, or thirty years ; or as long as the cork duly performs it’s office.

In making cider for the common ufe of the farm-houfe, few of the foregoing rules are, or ought to be attended to. The flavour of the liquor is here a fecondary confidera- tion with the farmer j whofe firft objedt muft be to obtain a large quantity, at a fmall expence. The

common

1 19

common praclice of the country is fufficiently well calculated to anfwer this purpofe : the apples are ufually ground as foon as they become moderately ripe, and the juice is either racked off once as foon as it becomes bright, or more frequently conveyed from the prefs diredly to the cellar. A violent fermentation foon commences, and continues ’till nearly the whole of the faccharine part is decompofed. The calks are filled up and flopped early in the fucceeding fpring, and no further attention is either paid, or required. The liquor thus prepared may be kept from two, to five or fix, years I 3 in

120

in the cafk, according to it’s ftrength. It is generally harfh and rough,* but rarely acetous, and in this hate, I believe, it is ufually fuppofed to be preferred by the farmers and peafan- try. But this opinion is not well founded : they like it beh when it poflefles much hrength with mode- rate richnefs, and when it is with- out any thing harhi, or four in it’s flavour ; but they will drink it, and to a moh extraordinary excefs, when

it

* When it has become extremely thin and harfli by excefs of fermentation, the addition of a fmall quantity of briiifed wheat? or dices of loaded bread, or any other farinaceous fubdance, will much diminifli it’s difpofition to become four.

I2I

it is really acetous. -They will how- ever acknowledge, when they offer this kind to a flranger, (which they are at all times ready to do with great liberality) that the operation of fwallowing it is rather a fevere one ; but they always affure him that it will do him good, if he can get it down. And indeed if we may judge from the wmnderful quan- tities they drink without apparent injury, we may venture to pronounce it at leaft as wholefome as any a- mongft the various kinds of malt- liquors. It mufh however be admit- ted that the fweet flatulent liquor, which is generally fold out of the I 4 cider-counties,

122

cider- counties, is far otherwife ; for much of this having become harth, and even acetous, has been after- wards fweetened in the cellar of the merchant.

An inferior kind of liquor is made by macerating the reduced pulp, from which the cider has been prefled, in a fmall quantity of water, and regrinding it. The refidue of three hogflieads of the latter, yields about one of the former, which may be kept ’till the next autumn, and ufually fupplies the place of cider in the farm-houfe, for all purpofes except for the labourers in the harveft. It is generally fit to

drink

123

drink very loon after it is made, and though no attention is ever paid to it during it’s fermentation, it often remains, ’till near the end of the fucceeding fummer, more palatable than the cider preffed from the fame fruit.

1 believe the experiments I have mentioned in the former part of thefe obfervations, will be fufficient to convince the reader, that under common management, little fuccefs is to be expedted in the cultivation of the old *fruits ; under which name

I include

* I would wifh to guard the unexperi- enced planter againft truiiing to the alTertions of nurfery-men, particularly fome in the

neighbourhood

124

I include every variety, of which a fuigle old and decayed tree can any where be difcovered. A gralr, taken from a bearmg branch of a tree in this ftate, carries with it the habits and dileafcs of that branch, and can never form what can with propriety be called a young tree : it will be the continuation of an old one, and each plant will form an unnatural union of youth

and

neighbourhood of London ; who will promife to fend him trees of the Golden Pippin, or of any other kind of apple, that will not canker. But they are much in the habit of promifing what they cannot per- form, and are extremely ignorant of every thing beyond the mere routine of their pro-

feilion;

and age, of the living and the dead. Though my own efforts, as well as thole of every other planter with whom I am acquainted, have been totally unfuccefsful, I am far from wiffiing to difcourage any experi- ments in the nurfery, or garden j but I recomm.end it to every man, who plants an orchard, to chufe thofe kinds of fruit only, of which he knows the firft, original, tree to

exifi:

feflion ; aad (as ufually happens) pofitive in proportion as they are ignorant. As long as the infeeft I have already noticed ( page 89 ) exifts in the nurferies round London, apple-trees flioiild not on any account be taken- <*frorri them to fituations where it is not known.

126

«xift in health and vigour ; or thole at lead of which a lingle old difealed tree can not be found : for he will certainly fee every one he plants affeded by the age and date of the original tree, as I have already remarked. The lofs, the county of Hereford fudains by the ule of old difeafed varieties of fruit, is enor- moufly great ; it’s produce, 1 have not the fmalled doubt, being re- duced to lefs than one half, of what it might be. An acre of good ground, fully planted with proper fruits, ought and will afford, an average produce of four, or five, •hundred gallons a yearj but I am

afraid

127

afraid that the orchards of Hereford- fhire in the aggregate fcarcely fur- nifh one third of that quantity in their prefent ftate.

The directions I have given, will probably be found fufficient for the inexperienced farmer in the manu- facture of his cider : but the reader, who defires further information on the fubjeCt, will find it treated more at length in Mr. Marih all’s rural economy of Gloucefterfhire, to which I wifh to refer him, whilft I proceed to offer a few obfervations on the culture of the pear.

the experiments I have made on the pear have not been nearly fo numerous as thofe on the apple, and have been confined to a Angle variety, the Taynton Squalh ; but they have been fully fufficient to convince me, that the difeafes of both chiefly arile from the debility of old age, and will be found equally incurable. Though the pear is more probably a naturalized than an in- digenous fruit in this country, it is much more hardy than the apple, and may certainly be cultivated in almofl every part of England with

nearly

129

nearly as much fuccefs as in Here- fordfliire. Like the apple it grows with greateft luxuriance in ftrong deep foils, and in thefe the fineft liquors are at prefent obtained from it ; but it will flourilh in every variety, where it is not incommoded with water. It’s culture differs fo little from that of the apple, that the fame rules are in general equally applicable to both. It is moll fuccefsfully propa- gated on flocks of it’s own fpecies, but it will fucceed in fome degree on thofe of the Quince, the Medlar, the Whitebeam, the common Ser- vice, and the Hawthorn ; and pro- bably on many others. When grafted

on

130

On it*s own feedling flocks, which alone I would recommend, the oper- ation fhould always be performed near the ground, on account of their reclining top-heavy growth. In raif- ing flocks from the feeds of this fruit, much attention mufl be paid to them during the earlier part of the firfl fummer, or great numbers will perifb. They muft be kept clear from weeds, and regularly wa- tered in dry weather; and if the mould be frequently flirred between the plants, it will be of great ad- vantage to them : after the middle of Auguft, little care or attention will be required from the planter.

A

A fufficient number of varieties of this fruit, in a good flate of growth, are in cultivation j but few of them poffefs any high degree of merit. The greater part are extremely produftive of juice, and require to be ground foon after they fall, or are blown from the trees. The produce of fome of them, when it has been nicely manufactured from well ripened fruit, often poflefles great excellence ; but it is often at the fame time fweet, and acetous ; and if, owing to an unfavourable feafon, the fruit has not been pro- perly ripened, and an excefs of fermentation cannot be prevented, K the

132

the iiquor becomes four and unpa- latable, and Icarcely good enough to anfwer the meanefl purpofes of the farm-houle. I am much dif- pofed to doubt whether a Angle perry - pear, polfefling nearly the greateft degree of excellence of which this Ipecies of fruit is capable, has yet been in cultivation. It appears highly probable that firmer fruits, which might be kept fome time, or left under the trees to attain a more perfeft and regular maturity, are likely to afford a more perma- nent, and generous liquor. One pear, which in fome degree anfw'ers this defcription, has been much cul- tivated.

tivated, the Longland ■, and though it’s produce, being without the fine flavour which is found in fome others, is little attended to by the merchant, it has qualities which render it extremely valuable to the farmer ; the fruit may be kept fome time v/ithout fuftaining any great degree of injury, when bufinefs of more importance occupies his atten- tion ; the liquor obtained from it is never very fine, but it is rarely below mediocrity : it polTefles more body than is generally found in perry, and retains many of it’s good qualities in every different foil and lituation. It is a fruit I fhould K a flrongly

134"

ftrongly recommend for culture in cold and expofed fituations, for which the hardinefs of it’s blolTom renders it peculiarly well calculated ; but I am afraid it is advancing nearly to that period when young trees can no longer be raifed with advantage to the planter.

The pear is an extremely long-lived tree, and the fame variety may in confequence be very long kept ia cultivation. At what period the Taynton Squafh firfh fprang from the feed, probably cannot now be at all afcertained i but I fufpedl from it’s prefent difeafed and worn aut ftate, that it exifted at leaft

as

as early as the beginning oF the century before the laft : for another kind, the Barland, which was much cultivated in the early part of the lall century, ftill retains a large fhare of health and vigour, and the identical trees which fupplied the inhabitants of Hereford (hire in the feventeenth century with liquor, are likely to do the fame good office to thofe of the nineteenth. I fufped: however that this variety naturally poffelTed a greater degree of durability, than is common to the fpecies j and that it’s lofty Ipiral growth, by rendering it difficult to get grafts from the extremities of K 3 tV

the bearing branches, has in culti- vation made it Hill more durable. It is yet capable of being propaga- ted ; but trees nearly of the fame ftature with thofe which now abound, muft not again be expeited. The tree, which is faid to have been the original, grew in a field called the Barelands in the parifh of Bof- bury, and was blown down a few years ago.

Though I do not think very highly of any of the perry-pears which are now cultivated, I do not know that I can point out the means of acquiring better. Thofe which I have employed to obtain

improved

137

improved kinds of the apple, appear to me to be wholly improper. Every variety of that fruit, which poflef- fes colour and richnefs, is capable of making fine cider, but a good perry-pear requires an alTemblage of qualities, which will be rarely found in the fame fruit. It muft contain a large portion of fugar, or it’s juice can never poflfefs fufficient ftrength, and unlefs it be at the fame time extremely aftringent, the liquor produced from, it will be acetous whenever it ceafes to be faccharine. In the latter ftate it will agree with few conftitutions, in the former with none. The juice K 4 of

138

cf the beft perry-pears is fo harfh and rough, as to occafion a long continued heat and irritation in the throat, when the fruit is attempted to be eaten j yet by being fimply prefled from the pulp it becomes rich and fweet without more rough- nefs than is agreeable to almofl. every palate. This circumftance appears extraordinary, but it does not ftand alone in the vegetable world. The root of the arum (wakerobin) is ex- tremely acnd, and if chewed will pro- duce very confiderable pain in the mouth for many hours afterwards : but the exprefled juice, with the fpirituous or watery extrafts, Icarcely

partakes

139

partakes at all of the acrimony of the root, tho’ this, like the pulp of the pear, will be rendered mild and taftelefs. The defeats of the apple and pear, when raifed from feed, are generally of oppofite kinds : in the former the fruit is ufually harfli and four, in the latter it is apt to be, when thoroughly ripe, fw;eet and infipid. The mode of cultivation therefore which would improve the one by bringing it nearer to the highly cultivated flate and leffening it’s harfhnefs, would not improbably be injurious to the other by producing the fame effeds.

An

140

An efLimate may be formed in the apple of the merit of the fruit by the leaf and growth of the feed- ling tree, but in the pear thele fcarcely afford the flighteft indication of the futu.'e produce. The leaves of thofe plants which will afterwards afford large rich fruits for the defert are often fmall and thin, and the ftems will be covered with thorns ; whilfb others, whofe leaves and growth fhew every mark of a high ftate of cultivation, will fbmetimes produce fruits which are fmall and worthlefs.

1 do not know that better means can be ufed in obtaining new varie- ties of this fruit, than lowing a

large

large quantity of feeds from healthy trees of an orchard in which the beft kinds only have been planted, and afterwards feledling the plants of the moft luxuriant and vigorous growth. But as no eftimate can be formed of the value of their future produce, it will be prudent to retain a confiderable number ’till their fruits be known : few of which I am afraid muft be expected to anfwer the wilhes of the planter.

I have during the laft twelve years examined a very large number of feedling-pears, and have a con- fiderable variety growing on a farm I occupy, but I have never difco-

vered

142

vered more than one kind, which I thought capable of making fine

perry. The greater part of thele

however appeared to me to have

fprung from the feeds ot rich eatable pears, and fome of them bore a very clofe refemblance to the fruits of old grafted trees in the neigh- bouring orchards. There is little

reafon to believe that the refem- blance would have been lets between the parent and the feedling fruit, had the former been eminent for the produftion of fine perry ; and it therefore appears probable, that good new kinds may readily be obtained from the feeds of the bell now

cultivated.

. 143

cultivated. But even if few Ihould be found capable of affording fine perry, the produce of all will be valuable to the farmer to mix with crabs, or apples which have been blown prematurely from the tree. The vapid fweetnefs of the juice ©f the pear is correded by the aci- dity of thefe, and the liquor pro- duced by the mixture often pofTef- fes much more merit, then could have been expeded from the ingre- dients. It will pesfedly fuppiy the place of fmall beer, and may be brought into the market at lefs than half the price, w.th fufficient profit to the grower.

The

144

The time which feedling-trees will require to attain fufficient maturity to produce fruit, appears to vary much in different varieties. I have one plant which produced fruit at fixteen years old, and another which, from the concurrent teftimony of many old people, who remember it’s firft bloffoms, appears to have remained unproductive through the firft feventy years of it’s exiftence. It has fince born tolerably well ; but it’s fruit is always without feeds, or internal cavity ; and it appears to fet with difficulty, much the greater part of the bloffoms being conftantly unproductive. Poffibly it’s long con- tinued

145

tinned barrennefs, and the defeds in it’s frudification, may both have arifen from fome incidental imper- fedion in the organization of the plant. The fruit is in other refpeds perfed, and pofleffes great merit as an eatable pear.

The diredions I have already given for planting the apple, are in every refped applicable to the pear ; except that this tree, being of more luxuriant and lofty growth, will require wider intervals. In the moft clofely planted orchards the rows fliould not be put at lefs than eigh- teen yards diftance, nor the trees nearer than eight or nine to each

other

146

other j and when the ground is to remain in tillage, intervals of twenty- five, or thirty yards, Ihould be al- lowed between the rows. Attention mull alfo be paid to the forms and filature of the different varieties, and as the fruit of thefe is rarely mixed with a view to make fine perry, trees of one kind only fliould oc- cupy each row. In fome kinds the fruit grows only on the outfide of thofe branches which are expofed to the fun and air ; in others it occupies every part of the tree. The former will of courfe require to be planted at greater diftances than the latter.

The

The produce of the pear-tree, though of the fame variety, and growing on the fame ftock, ripens extremely irregularly j and the plan- ter muft therefore have a conlidera- ble number of trees of each kind he plants, or he will rarely have a fufficient quantity ready to be ground at the fame time. Even when the fruit has fallen fpontaneoufly from the trees, a fourth at leafl: of fbme kinds will be found immature, or decaying, and totally unfit to make fine perry; and fliould be (though it rarely or never is) feparated from the reft. The pear requires a cer- tain ftate of maturity to afford perry L in

148

in the greateft: ftate of perfeftion : it fhould be ripe without being mellow, or decaying ; when it has not obtained the proper ftate of ripenefs, an excefs of fermentation cannot be prevented, and when it has exceeded it, the liquor rarely ferments kindly, and is extremely apt to become four ; probably by having loft too great a portion of it’s aftringency : hence few kinds are found to improve by being kept, after they have fallen from the trees.

Pruning is not often wanted in the culture of the pear-tree, which is rarely much incumbered with

fuperfluous

149

fuperfluous branches j but in fome kinds, whofe form of growth refem- bles the apple-tree, it will fome- times be found beneficial. The obfervations I have already made on the latter, are, under fimilar cir- cumftances, equally applicable to this tree.

The blights of the pear, like thofe of the apple, arife either from in- fers, or unfavourable weather, or a combination of both. The blof- foms are often rendered abortive, by a fmall brown beetle, precifely fimilar to that found on the apple- tree, and probably of the fame Ipe- cies j and a confiderable quantity Lz of

15^

of it’s fruit is frequently deftroyed by the larvae of a fmall green four- winged fly. Each fruit which con- tains the latter infedts becomes in a few days rounder than thofe in the natural ftate, and grows with much greater rapidity ; but it falls off early in the fummer, and if it be examined whilft growing, it will be found full of fmall grubs. The pear-tree fuffers more frequently from cold than from infedls, and therefore thofe varieties whofe blof- foms are produced rather late in the fpring, and are preceded by the leaves, are generally moft productive of fruit i and fome kinds of the

pear.

pear, as of the apple, are much more fubjed. to injury both from iiifeft? and unfavourable weather, than others. I have one feedling tree whole bloflbms appear capable of bearing the moft unfavourable wea- ther without injuiy, and which has not once failed to produce a good crop in the memory of the oldeft inhabitant of the village in which it ftands. The fruit is rather too fweet to make good perry unlefs in mixture with other kinds, but it neverthelefs forms a very valuable variety for cold and expofed fitua- tions, as it ripens fomewhat early in autumn,

L3

In

152

In the manufadure of perry the pears are ground and preffed pre- cifely as apples are for cider ; but it is not ufual to fufFer the redu- ced pulp to remain any time un- prefled. The management of the liquor during it’s fermentation is alfo fimilar to that of cider ; but it does not afford the fame criterions by which the proper moment to rack off may be known : the thick feum which colledls on the furface of cider rarely appears on the juice of the pear, and during the fufpen- fions of it’s fermentation, the excef- five brightnefs of the former liquor is feldom feen in this ; but if the

fruit

153

fruit has been regularly ripe, it’s produce will generally become mo- derately clear and quiet in a few days after it is made, and it mufl then be drawn off from it’s groffer lees. An excefs of fermentation is prevented by the means ufed in the manufadture of cider, and the liquor is rendered bright by ilinglafs. The power this fubflance poffefles of fining liquors appears to be purely mechanical : it is compofed of in- numerable fibres, which being dif- perfed over the liquor, attach them- felves to, and carry down, it’s im- purities. For this purpofe it fhould be reduced to fmall fragments by L 4 being

154

being pounded in a mortar, and afterwards fteeped twelve or four- teen hours in a quantity of liquor fufficient to produce it’s greatefi; degree of expanfion. In this flate it muft be mixed with a few gallons of the liquor, and ftirred ’till it is diffufed and fufpended in it ; and it is then to be poured into the calk, and incorporated with the whole by continued agitation for the fpace of two hours. This procefs mufl be repeated ’till the required degree of brightnefs is obtained, the liquor being each time drawn oft, on the fecond or third day, from it’s precipitated lees. Not more

tlian

155

than an ounce and half, or two ounces of ifinglafs are, I believe, generally put into a calk, of a hun- dred and ten gallons at once j but when it’s mode of aftion is conli- dercd, I can fee no objection to a larger quantity. This fubftance is moft readily dilFufed in liquors by boiling ; but by this it is diflblved, and converted into glue ; and it’s organization, on which alone it’s powers of fining depend, is totally deftroyed. The application of it is fometimes neceffary in the manu- fafture of cider ; but as it is rarely wanting in that liquor, I deferred inferting the direAions for ufing it, ’till 1 came to fpeak of perry, which

IS

156

is feldom made thoroughly bright, or fit for the bottle, without it. The after-management of perry is the fame as that of cider; but it does not bear fituations where it is expofed to much change of tempera- ture, and it’s future merit cannot fb well be judged of by it’s prefent Hate. In the bottle it almoft always retains it’s good qualities, and in that fituation I would always recom- mend it to be put, if it remains found and perfed: at the conclufion of the firfl fucceeding fummer.

The pear though it furnifhes but an unpopular liquor, except in it’s

greateft Hate of perfeftion, poflefles

many

^57

many advantages over the apple for general culture : it will flourilh in a greater variety of foil, is much more productive, and being incapa- ble, in thofe varieties v hich are proper for perry, of being eaten or applied to any culinary purpofe, it is little fubjeCt to be Itolen in fituations where fruits do not abound. As an ornamental tree, it pofleffes fuf- ficient merit to entitle it to a place, where ornament is the principal ob- jeCl : it’s form is often piClurefque-, and it’s bloflbms in the fpring, and fruit in autumn, are always beau- tiful. Every trees when nearly full - grown in moderately good ground, will afford an annual pro- duce

158

duce (taking many years tngetker) of more than 'twenty gaiions of liquor, on the lo^veft computation, and an acre is capable of containing thirty at lead of fuch trees ; which, if of new varieties of fruit, will continue produdtve beyond the conclufion of a lecond, and perhaps of a third, century. It muffc be ad- mitted that the produce of differ- ent years is extremely unequal, and that a great year of fruit introduces much excefs and irregularity in the cider-countries ; on which account,

I have met with a few individuals difpofed to deny that any advantage arofe from the culture of the apple and pear : but their arguments were

all

159

all founded on the abufes of the liquors obtained from them, and therefore can have little weight when employed againfh the ufes, to which they might be applied. It cannot however be denied that the grafs in the orchard is injured in quality by the (hade of the trees ; but it always comes very early in the fpring, v»?hen it is particularly valuable to the farmer, and the lofs in quantity will in few inftances be found equal to one tenth of the value of the fruit. The propriety of tilling an orchard, when the trees are become large, may however be queftioned ; unlefs it be done with a view to render them more productive. Where

a

i6o

a number of trees, fufficient only to af- for 1 proper thade and flielter to the cattle, defperfed over every county, great advantages would accrue to in- dividuals at the fame time that the face of the country would be greatly improved ; the confumption of enor- mous quantities of barley would be faved ; and the farmer would be able to fupply his family with a wholefome and palatable beverage on much eafier terms, than beer can ever be afforded ; and in con- fequence would cultivate his ground at lefs expence, and employ a larger portion of it in the produftion of wheat * and other articles more immediately neceifary to fociety.

* See a note at the conclufion

I cannot difniifs the fubjeft with- out offering fome apology for the imperfeit ons of the foregoing trea- tife. The experiments, which have given exiftence to it, have of necef- fity occupied much the greater part of twenty years, though they have required very little fkill, or induftr}-, at any one time. Ten years more ■muff elapfe before the refult of others I have made can be known, and I have in confequence been often able to give an opinion onh', where I wifhed to have fpoken irom experience. But I have carefully feparated what I knew, from what I thought, and my facts, I am certain, are correct. Thofe alone

will.

i62

will, I believe, afford fome infor- mation to the common planter, and will, I hope, ferve to ftimulate the inquiries of others : at a future time it may be in my power to offer a more perfeft treatife. The fubjedt is certainly interefting to the gar- dener and farmer, and there are parts of it, which appear to me, not wholly undeferving the attention of the philofopher.

FINIS.

POSTSCRIPT.

Agriculture is certainly much

better underftood at prefent, than it was fifty years ago ; but it may reafonably be queftioned, whether in a national point of view, it is much better pra6lifed. In the former period, Great Britain raifed as much corn as fupplied it's own confumption, and annually exported between fix and feven. million bufhels, taking the average of feven years : and from the year 1 743 to 1 748 the fum of eight million feven thoufand nine hundred and forty-eight pounds was received by it for corn exported. The exportation in the two following years was ftili greater ; * but during the fucceeding years this trade gradually declined, and in the eighteen years preceding 1788, the fum of four million feven hundred and feventy-fix thoufand pounds, or two hundred and

A

^ Chalmer^s Eflhnatc,

ir

and fixty-five thoufand three hundred and thirty-three per annum, had been paid for grain of different kinds to foreign nations. *

I am not acquainted with the lofs this coun- try has fince fuftained ; but it muft have been enormoufly great, and rapidly increaf- ^ng : yet the farmer of the prefent day pof- feffes the advantages of a larger capital, and of fuperior fkill and machinery ; but thefe are more than counter-balanced by the extended influence of the Tithe-Laws, or more properly the modern decifion of the Court of Exchequer.

The county of Hereford contains at leafl two hundred thoufand acres of arable land, fubjedl to Tithes : to put this in an improved and proper flate of cultivation would require an annual expence in labour and manure, in addition to the prefent, of more than ten fliillings an rxre ; and this fum might eafily be employed to pay the farmers ten per cent

for

^ Reprefentaiion of the Lords of the Committee of CCuncil ^c, on the Importation and Exportation &f Corn»

Ill

for their money, and confeqiiendy to bring into the market the value of one hundred and ten thoufand pounds of increafed pro- duce, and to find conftant employment to five thoufand labourers. But out of this fum the Tithe-man would take the tenth, or eleven thoufand pounds, and the far- mers would in confequence lofe the whole intereft of their money, with one per cent of their capitals. The improvement of flock, and of ground not in a flate of tillage, would require at leafl as large a fum, which cannot be employed by the farmers, as long as the Tithe-Laws remain in their prefent mofl opprefiive form.

The profits of tillage, when the land is not rich, are extremely frnall to the farmer : more than halt the arable land of Hereford^ fhire is tilled for a lefs produce than twelve bufhels per acre ; even when the ground has lain fallow during the preceding fummer. This, with the flraw, may be reckoned worth about five guineas, out of vvhich ten

fliillings

IV

fliillings and fix-pence belong to the Tithe- man, and the remaining fum is fcarcely fufficient to repay the farmer his expen ccs : by a late decifion of the Court of Exchequer, or rather by a new law made by it, the Hubble is alfo become titheable.

The wages of the day-labourer taking the average of the kingdom are not lefs than fifteen pence a day : the farmer muft be repaid this expence by an increafe in the produce of his ground, equal to the quantity of labour he purchafes; and if he forfeits the tenth of that produce, he pays three- halfpence a day to the Tithe-man for every labourer he employs ; and he mu ft either deducft that fum out of the wages of the labourer, or fet a higher price on the pro- duce of his labour. In either cafe the lofs falls on the unhappy cottager, and ultimately on the parifh. But the evil does not end here ; higli, or indeed proper cultivation, Will rarely pay more than ten per cent, and therefore a deduction of a tentb,^ or

of

V

of eleven per cent, a6ls as an abfolute pro- hibition. The employment of the labourer is confequently cut off, the ground becomes iefs prodiidive, and the wages of the labourer are depreffed, whilft the price of provifions is raifed in the market.

Some pains have been taken to confound the Tithes with the rent paid to the land- lord ; and to prove that the one is not more injurious to agriculture, than the other ; but the latter is a tax on the land, the former on the labour and capital employed on it. The farmer pays the fame fum to the landlord, whether his field be covered with corn, or with brambles ; and he is therefore flrongly ftimulated, and indeed compelled, to employ it in the mofl advantageous manner to himfelf, and to the public ; but to the Tithe-man he pays the tenth of the produce of his labour and expences, and this in an highly manured field of wheat will

very

In a jiamjihht by a Ma^er of Arts of the JJniverfty of Cambridge A

VI

very frequently amount to more than two hundred per cent on the annual value of the ground, and will take away the whole profits of the farmer. He mull therefore contrail his expences, and adopt the ruin- ous and prevailing fyflem of railing little at proportionably fmaller expence. The fame acre which under his former fyflem pro- duced eighteen bufliels of wheat, at the expence of hx pounds, will now produce ten, at the expence of three pounds : the public here fuflains a lofs of eight bufhels of wheat, but the farmer will often be a gainer, and will always have the fatisfadlion of having injured his enemy, the Tithe- man.

The farmer pays the tenth of the grofs produce of his farm, which includes the rent of his land, barns and houfe, the coil of his implements of hufbandry, and of his labouring cattle ; the intereft of his remain- ing flock and crop, and the whole of the labour and manure he purchafes. Let

fuch

Vil

fucii a tax be laid on any branch of manu- fa6i:ure, in which this country poflefTes the greateft exclufive advantages, and it would be immediately ruined. If th^ clothier were to forfeit the tenth piece of cloth, .when manufa6lured, without having any allowance made for the rent of his buildings, his ma- chinery, the labour he employed, or the raw material he purchafed; he would inftantly be underfold in every market in Europe ; and a .great advance in the price of the produce of his manufa^lory mufi: be paid by the Inhabitants of this country, which would be fupplied with cloth, as it is now with corn, on lower terms by foreign nati- ons : many thou lands of induftrious poor, who receive their maintenance from the woollen trade, mull then feek fubfiftence in other countries, or be fupported, as a great part of thofe which agriculture might employ, now are, by the parifh.

As a tax the Tithes fall wdth accumu- lated weight on thofe animals, which in the polTeflion of the farmer are moft extenlively

ufefui

VIII

ufeflil to fociety. The tenth only of the produce of animals, as of the earth, belongs to the church ; but by the decifions of our moft equitable Court of Exchequer, the tenth fleece of the fheep, the tenth lamb, the tenth of the wool of the retnaining nine, and the tenth of the herbage they afterwards confume, if fold before they are fliorn again, are annually forfeited. This I fuppofe, forms a fair ecclejiajiical tenth, but it appears to me rather to exceed an arithmetical one. The tenth calf of the cow, and the tenth meal of milk, are paid when the animal is fed on hay, which has already paid Tithe ; and the tenth increafe of the hog, which is maintained by the milk, which has virtually been twice tithed already, belongs alfo to the Tithe-man.

Tho,ugh the farmers feel more immedaitely the oppreflion of the Tithe -Laws than any other members of fociety, they are leaft interefted in obtaining a Commutation of Tithes : it is true they forfeit the tenth of their corn, and the tenth of the flraw,

which

which ought to afford manure for the fuc- ceeding feafon ; and though they are com- pelled to cultivate their ground improperly, and at two fmall an expence, and confe- quently to bring litde into the market, they are fure to fell that little at an exorbitant price. The Tithe is therefore levied on the confumer, and hence have arifen the diftreffes of the lower order of trade fmen^ and of the peafantry, whilft the farmers have grown rich. The exceffively high price of every article of provifion has given, a ftimulus to agriculture, which has rendered corn at prefent, in fome degree, abundant ; but the fame caufes, which have produced one fcarcity, will produce another ; and if the Tithe-Laws remain in their prefent form, wheat will foon be fold again at double ids prefent price. I believe it is in my powder to bring evidence, that more than a thoufand bufhels of corn have at once ceafed to be produced in a fingle parifh, in more than one inftance, in this county, and great iofles in others have come under my own B obfervation,

X

obfervation, during the laft fix years, owing to quarrels between the clergy and their parifhioners on the fubje6l of Tithes : thefe lofies have been fully fufficient to produce a local fcarcity, and I believe as great, and in many inllances greater lofies, have been fuflained in other parts of the kingdom ; for this has much lefs reafon to complain of the clerical, and even of the lay impro- priators, than many Others. In fome counties the crops of corn are annually valued whilfi: in blofibm, and each farmer is fined according to his fldll and induflry, and the number of labourers, or poor, he has em- ployed ; and the clergyman will not always condefcend to treat with his parifliioners individually, but lets the Tithes in the mafs to the beft bidder.

It may be fuppofed that the Tithes by a6ling as a heavy, and opprefiTive, tax on tillage, and confequently as a bounty on pafturagCj would tend to lefien the price of animal, as well as to raife that of vege- table, food ; but I can fpeak from expe-

rience

XI

rlence that a highly c::ltivated acre of tillage^ with proper change of crops, will al- ways bring into the market more animal food, independant of the wheat it produces, than the fame acre in pafture can be made to do : it is neverthelefs aimoxf always the interefl of the farmer to difcharge his labour- ers, and to contra (5f his expen ces by con- verting his ground to paflure, whenever he cannot enter into a fair compoiition with the podeiTbr of Tithes.

However oppreHive, and injurious, the Tithe- Laws are found in this country, in Ireland they are infinitely more fo. Almoil the whole of the farmers and peafantry there are either Roman Catholics, or Dlf- fenters ; yet all are compelled to pay Tithes to the eflabli filed- clergy, though they fupport their own by voluntary contributions. Such a tax alone, did they receive no other unneceflary provocations from the blind and bigoted obffinacy of the prefent adminiflration, is fully fufiicient to account

for

XII

for the affociations of the united Irilhmen, and defenders, and for their with to put themfelves under the prote6tion of France.

The natural value of corn, as of every other article, is the price at which it can be brought into the market, paying the ex- pences of rent and labour, and the intereft of flock : a tax, amounting to a tenth on each of thefe, neceflarily raifes it’s value ten per cent : but by rendering a proper flate of cultivation impra61icable, the Tithes have had the additional effe61 of producing a fcarcity ; and I am thoroughly confident that every clafs of fociety has payed during the laft feven years nearly two fhillings a bufliel in the price of corn, and twenty per cent on every other article of provifion, owing to the Tithe-Laws; and that thefe now occafion a heavier burthen on the lower clafies of fociety than all the accu- mulated weight of taxes in the aggregate.

It mufl however be admitted that other caufes have operated, though in a very inferior

» degree,

xni

degree, to produce the prefetit fcarcity, and confeqnent high price of provilions. An increafe of population, and of deftruftive luxury, has no doubt taken place ; but I cannot adrpit that thefe caufes would have been adequate to counter-balance the advan- tages which this country receives from the extended culture of potatoes, and which the farmers would have received from the ufe of their fuperior Ikill, capital, and machinery, had they not been prohibited uhng them.

The fcarcity and high price of provifions, have been attributed, but I think very erroneoufly, to other caufes ; to the exten- lion of paper-credit, to an increafe in the lize of farms, and to the advance in the rent to the landlord. The enormous quan- tity of paper in circulation may poihbly tend to increafe the price, but by no mieans to produce a fcarcity of provifions ; for it enables the farmer to employ a larger capital, and confequently to render his

ground

XIV

ground more productive. The circulating /ca- pital, which the agriculture of England might, and ought to employ, either in fpecie, or paper, probably exceeds that now in ufe at leaft fix millions fterling : and I am thoroughly confident that this fum might eafily be employed, and that corn to the value of three, or four millions fterling, might be annually ready for exportation, after the w^ants of the prefen t number of inhabitants. Great Britain contains, had been abundantly fatisfied.

Farms are no doubt in fome inftances mu,cli too large ; but fmall ones, I am afraid, can never be made productive to the commu- nity. The farmer who rents but fifty pounds a year in a ftrong-foiled diftriCt, mu ft keep, though he cannot properly employ, four horfes, and thefe will nearly confume the whole produce of his farm. Six horfes, with the afiiftance of oxen, are fully fuf- ficient to cultivate a farm of two, or three, or even of four, hundreds a year, and the ground, I fear, (for I wifti much to

think

XV

think otherwife) will always be tilled to the greateft national advantage under the latter divifions. Many people are inimical to large farms becaiife they remember that provifions were more cheap, when fmall ones abounded ; but the great man ufa£ln ring towns, which now drain the furroimding counties, did not then exift. . Small farms would no doubt add to the comforts of the inhabitants of the neighbouring fmall towns, but thofe mufl: give way to con- hderations of greater national importance : very' large farms however are every way injurious.

The increafe in the rents of the landlords is the effe61:, but never can be the caufc of the high price of provifions. If the farmers had little, or no rents to pay, their corn would produce as high, and probably a higher price than it docs at prefent ; for much more wmuld be con- fumed in what is now the farm houfe, and the farmer being able to live in eafe and affluence, would too often indulge himfelf in indolence, and excefs, and little^ of courfe

would

'XV I

would be brought to market; that little would certainly be fold at an exorbitant price, and a famine would be the inevitable confeqiience. Whoever will examine the flate of ground which is let much below it’s natural value, will general^ find it ill cultivated, and unprodu61:ive, affording little employment for the labourer, or provifion for the market.

The operation of a Corn-Rent would be diametrically oppofite to that of the Tithes, and by it, the revenues of the clergy would be made as beneficial to agriculture, as they are now ruinous, and deftrudfive : it would alfo tend much to reconcile (and that fhould be amongft the firfi: objec^fs of every go- vernment) the difeordant interefts of the grower, and of the confumer of corn, which unfortunately are for ever at variance. If every farmer, whofe eftate ought to pro- duce any given number of bufhels of corn, or the value of fuch quantity, under a fair Hate of cultivation, were to pay the cler- gyman the price of a tenth of that quantity in the market-places of the neighbouring

towns,

XVII

towns, taking the average of the prices of the year, they would take care that thofe markets fhould be properly fupplied, and the grower and confumer would meet with- out the intervention of a third perfon. If the farmers witheld their corn from the market to increafe it’s price, a Corn-Rent would increafe in the fame proportion, and would a 61 as a powerful check on every fpecies of monopoly : if they did not properly cultivate their ground, and the markets were in confequence ill fupplied, it would be a tax on their indolence; and if on the contrary great exertions were made by them, and corn became in confequence cheap, and abundant, it would ad as a bounty on their induftry.

I have feen only one publication in the defence of the Tithe -Laws, written by a gentleman who hgns himfelf “ a Mailer of Arts of the Univerfity of Cambridge:” he has witheld his name, and bas aded pru- dently in doing fo, for his pamphlet con- tains little but declamatory mifreprefentation and falfe ftatement, apparently intentional.

c Some

xvni

Some of his objedlions to a Commutation of Tithes are fo curious as ta defervc attention. He obje6'ts to a Corn-Rent on the ground that, if wheat were made the flandard, (as it ufually is) the inhabi- tants of England might ceafe to ufe it, and might live on liberian barley and po- tatoes, by which the clergy would fuftain ^‘eflential, and irreparable injury.’’ He dwells much on the great advantages the farmers at prefent pofTefs by having fo many oppor- tunities of receiving ‘‘ friendly advice, and perfualion ” from the clergyman, when he comes to look after his Tithes ; and obje^fs to every fpecies of Commutation, becaufe it would tend to leflen the fre- quency of this blefled intercourfe. He alfo thinks that nothing would fo much reftore harmony between the paftor and his flock, and fllence the murmurs and difcontents of the farmers and peafantry, as an ad to compel the clergy to colled all their Tithes in kind, and confequently to ren- der themfelves as injurious, and oppreflive, as poflible : and he aflcrts that wherever

this plan has been put in execution for

any

XIX

any length of time, the greateft harmony has ,fubfifted between the incumbent and his parifhioners. He has not however con- defcended to mention an inftance in which this greateft harmony ever fubfifted ; and I will venture to afTert that he could not point out one where a clergyman had long colleded the whole of his Tithes, in which the moft rancorous, and inveterate degree of hatred did not exift between him, and the oc- cupiers of land in his parifti. This pamphlet is, I believe, generally attributed to the Lord

Biftiop of R ; but I cannot conceive

it poftible, that the author of fo weak, and fo extremely dihngeniious, a pro- dudion, at prefent occupies fo high and honourable an office in the church.

It is certainly the intereft of every clafs of fociety to obtain fome kind of Commu- tation of Tithes; but the clergy are par- ticularly interefted : land, I am confident, can not be given without great injury to the church, and to the community, though it might with great propriety be given, or at Icaft offered, to the lay impropriators,

and

XX

and would, I believe, be very generally accepted by them. A Corn-Rent, or fome- thing fimilar to one, would afford a much better maintenance for the clergy, than they now pofTefs, and would be preferred by a large majority of them. If wheat alone will not afford a proper handard, by which the permanent value of Tithes may be eftimated, I cannot fee the leaft diffi- culty in having a clerk appointed in every market-town to regifter the weekly price of the other neceffarics of life, which are furnifhed by the farmer. A tax of half a farthing a year, on every acre of ground fubje61: to Tithes, would more than pay the falaries of fuch officers, and to fuch a tax the landed intereft would readily fub- mit. If any difficulties occur to the reader in the execution of this plan, I would wifli him to turn his attention for a moment to the nature of agiflment Tithes. The pofTefTor of thefe is entitled to a tenth of the produce of all ground depaftured with unprofitable cattle ; but the produce of every acre varies in almofl every month in the year ; and is greater, or iefs, as the feafon is

more

XXI

more, or iefs, favourable : every field is alfo depaftured partly with unprofitable frock, which pays Tithes, and with profitable flock, which is exempted ; and it is impofiible to afcertain with any degree of accuracy what portion is confumed by either of thefe. The tenth of the improved value of the unprofitable cattle cannot be taken without the great eft injuftice to the farmer ; for this, in fome of the moft improved breeds, would not unfrequently be more than equal to the value of the whole produce of the field.

The clergy are in general very moderate in their demands, and to their moderation the poor are indebted for the fcanty fub- fiftence they poffefs ; yet the whole odium of the Tithes lies on them.. The income they receive almolt always bears an inverfc proportion to their merits ; the few who are rapacious and oppreflive, and who are regardlefs of every thing, but tKeir own intereft, being alone well paid. The farmers^ and peafantry will always confider the clergyman, who demands nearly the value of his Tithes as their perfonal enemy :

they

XXII

they cannot fee, and it would be moll wonderful if they could, the equity of many of the late decilions of the Court of Ex- chequer : and they look on the clergyman as the caufe of the injuftice, and opprellion, they fuffer : under fuch circumftances he can be little inftrumental in promoting the caufe of religion. Let his morality, and precepts, be ever fo pcrfe61:, his fin- cerity is fufpe6ted, his honefty is called in queftion, and his every a6lion is feeii through a falfe medium : that refped:, and -efteem, which alone can render the clergy in the prefent times of fervice to fociety, are totally annihilated, and the paftor is loft in the colle61:or of Tithes.

Neceflary as a Commutation of Tithes is to the exiftence of this country, I am confident that it will meet with the moft ftrenuous oppofition from the prefent mi- nifter, and I am afraid he will be warmly fupported by the narrow fliort-fighted policy of a part of the Bifiiops. Should their oppofition be fuccefsful, agriculture cannot poflibly keep pace with the increafing confumption and demand of provifions :

their

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fheir price will in confequence become annually more difproportionate to that of labour, the clergy will become annually more hated, the diftrefles and difcontents of the lower clalTes of fociety will rapidly increafe, and the Tithes, with the pofleflbrs^ will foon difappear together, without an a^f of the legiflature. Thefe evils can only be averted by a general petition of the people of England for an immediate Com- mutation. When one county petitions, others will immediately follow it’s example, for all are equally interefted. I hope the county I live in, and to which I with moft par- ticularly to addrefs this note, as well as the foregoing treatife, will have the honour to prefent the firft petition. In taking an a6live part to promote it, I cannot juftly be accufed of adfing from any motive of private intereft ; the property I polTefs is tithe-free ; and I mull of courfe be a lofer^ when I no longer poiTefs any exclufive ad- vantages.

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