7. THE
IF I^ UIT IMI^^lTTJ^^L
" Fruit of all kinds, in coat,
Bough or smooth rind, or bearded husk or ahelL"—MiLTOW.
8.
9. v.^^^^^5^
THE
FRUIT MANUAL:
THE FEUITS AND FEUIT TEEES OF
GEEAT BEITAIN.
Br EGBERT HOGG, LL.D., F.L.S.,
Viee-Prttident, and latt Secretary, of The Royal Horticultural Society ; Editor of the
*' Journal of horticulture," dtc, ±c., dte.
FIFTH EDITION.
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE OFFICE,
171, FLEET STREET.
1884.
p tfs i»^ fl
ipfl i (^
10.
11. Co t^t pernor; of i^t htt
MR. THOMAS RIVERS,
OF BAWBKIDOEWORTH,
THIS FIFTH EDITION OF
THE FRUIT MANUAL;
NOT THAT HE REQUIRES A MEMORIAL OTHER THAN THAT WHICH HE
HIMSELF HAS RAISED; BUT FOR FORTY YEARS WE WERE KNIT TOGETHER
BY THE CLOSEST FRIENDSHIP, WORKING TOGETHER AND STIMULATING ONE
ANOTHER IN THE STUDY OF POMOLOGY: AND NOW THAT HE HAS PASSED AWAY
ITHUS CHERISH IN MY MEMORY A SINCERE FRIEND AND A GOOD MAN.
HE 3DIEID OOTOBER. IVth, ia7"7.
Aged 80 Years.
y/j
12.
13. PREFACE.
It is twenty-four years since this work was first published, and
during the first fifteen of that period it passed through three
large editions. The fourth appeared nine years ago, and that
has long since been out of print. I have now finished the Fifth
Edition, in which will be found a great deal of new matter,
enlarging the work to upwards of 150 pages more than there
were in the last.
The increase in size is mainly due to the introduction of
additional descriptions of Fruits which are actually existing in
our Gardens and Orchards, as I have been desirous of putting on
record a description of all the fruits generally cultivated in the
United Kingdom so far as it was in my power to do so. I could
easily have increased the size of this volume if I had been so
disposed by introducing fruits cultivated abroad or which are
described in foreign works; but this would have answered no
useful purpose, for until these have been grown in this country
w^e can form no idea of what their merits or demerits might be.
Much harm has already been done and much disappointment has
been caused by the indiscriminate introduction and recommend-
ation of foreign fruits with the merits they are reputed to possess
in other soils and other climates. Fruits are so easily influenced
by these two agencies that even in this country, in localities not
far distant from each other, we meet with the most conflicting
results. In the fertile valley of the Thames about Teddington
and Twickenham every kind of hardy fruit might be expected to
14. Vlll PREFACE.
be produced in its greatest perfection ; but the reports furnished
by that experienced cultivator and acute observer, Mr. R. D.
Blackmore, which will be found in the descriptions of Peaches
and Pears, are quite staggering, and destroy the long-cherished
opinion which some of us have held respecting our favourite
fruits.
The new Classification of the Apple upon which I have for
some years been engaged is another additional feature in this
volume, and I trust that, when its principles have been mastered,
it will be found of service in the identification of the different
varieties.
The same success that has attended my Classification of the
Apple has been denied me in my attempt to do the same for the
Pear. I have merely given a sketch of a system which I hope
to be able some day more fully to elaborate. If one could every
year, or even at short intervals of years, ensure a crop of fruit the
work might soon be accomplished ; but in this uncertain climate
we must be content to proceed by slow marches and wait with
patience till our opportunities arise.
I have consented to a request which has been frequently made
to introduce descriptions of the leading kinds of Pine-apples.
Since the large importations of this fruit from the West Indies
and the Azores, where it is extensively grown for the supply
of the European markets, the cultivation of the Pine-apple has
fallen off in British gardens. Nevertheless, it is all the more
needful that some convenient record should be accessible for
the identification of those varieties which have been grown in
the pine-stoves of our large establishments.
15. CONTENTS
PAGE
Almonds 1
Classification of 1
Apples 4
Classification of xi
Lists of Select 253
The Best Dessert 257
The Best Kitchen 258
The Best Cideb 259
Apricots 260
Synopsis of 260
Lists of Select 273
Berberries 273
Cherries 274
Synopsis of 274
Lists op Select 316
Chestnuts 317
Cranberries 317
Currants 318
Lists of Select 322
Figs 322
Synopsis of 322
Lists of Select 337
Gooseberries 337
Synopsis of 337
Lists of Select 365
Table for Weights of 366
Grapes 366
Synopsis op 366
Lists of Select 413
Medlars 414
Mulberries 414
Nectarines 415
Synopsis of 415
List of Select 426
Nuts and Filberts 426
Synopsis of 426
List of Select 433
16. X CONTENTS.
Peaches .----*-
Synopsis op
PAGE
43H
43B
List of Select 464
Pears 465
Classification of 465
Pine-apples
...
Lists of Select
The Best -
670
673
675
Synopsis of 675
Plums 680
Synopsis of 680
Lists of Select 733
The Best Desseet 733
Quinces 734
Raspbeeries 734
Synopsis of 734
List of Select 739
Strawbeeeies -- 739
List of Select 758
Walnuts 758
17. CLASSIFICATION OF APPLES.
Many attempts have been made to devise a classification for the Apple.
Diel, Sickler, Dochnahl, Lucas, and others have each produced one,
but they are all modifications or altered forms the one of the other,
and the characters upon which they are constructed are too inconstant
and indefinite to render their work of much practical utility. As the
ultimate design of classification is mainly to facilitate the identification
of the numerous objects that are the subject of inquiry, if it fails in
this, much of its usefulness is impaired. The systems to which I
have alluded have all proved failures, and, with the exception of
Diel'sand Doehnahl's, I am not aware that under either of them the
numerous varieties of Apples have ever been classified.
In British Pomolof/y, which was published many years ago, I
suggested a classification for the Apple that was intended to lead to
the discovery of the names of the difl'erent varieties described in that
work, but its scope was too limited, and it consequently failed in its
purpose. Previous to this I had attempted to make use of Diel's
arrangement, but without success, and then I resolved to search out for
myself characters upon which to base a system that would accomphsh
what I had in view.
In 1876 my
earliest views of a new system were published in The
Journal of Horticulture. It appeared while I was absent from home,
and was set up in so confused a manner that it called forth some well-
merited criticism. I reconstructed it in what I conceived to be a better
shape, and it was printed in a tUstinct form as A New Classiji cation of
Ajjples. This is the basis upon which my new and amended system is
founded. I find, however, that in this as in every other classification
of natural objects there are the usual difiiculties to contend with.
Kature refuses to be bound, and will not submit to be confined, within
the narrow limits that man would assign to her. There is still the
debatable ground to deal with, where there arc no definite boundaries
18. —
XU THE FRUIT MANUAL.
and we are met on every hand by the difficulties experienced by M.
Milne-Edwards, who says, " We sometimes see the transition of one
plan of structure to an entirely different scheme of organisation take
place by degrees so completely shaded one into the other that it
becomes very difficult to trace the line of demarcation between the
groups thus connected ;
" and it must always be so. No classification
of natural objects has yet been constructed on perfectly fixed principles,
and we were to wait, expecting to arrive at that state of scientific
if
accuracy, we should continue waiting. Every system now in use has
been crude in its beginning. The natural system of botany, for
instance, which is now almost universally in use, was evolved, and is
still being evolved, out of one which "abounded in errors and imper-
fections." I am not discouraged, therefore, when I meet with difficulties
in applying my system. I feel assured that after it has been put into
operation, and some of its imperfections have been discovered and
have disappeared, it will eventually be found to answer the purpose for
which it is intended ; for I am convinced that the principles upon
which it is founded are sound.
The structural characters on which this classification is based are
1. The Stamens; 2. The Tube; 3. The Carpels; and 4. The Sepals.
When we make a longitudinal section of an Apple through the
centre of the eye to the stalk we see these various organs. At the top
of the section are the calycine segments, or what is technically called
the eye, and immediately below them there is a cavity called by
botanists the flower-tube. Inserted in this tube is a ring of small
bristle-like organs, which are the remains of the stamens, and these
occupy three difi'erent positions. In some fruits they are very near
the top of the tube ; in others they are lower down, and occupy a
position about the middle ; whilst in others they are very near the
base. The tube itself is of two forms —the conical and the funnel-
shaped. Just below the tube is the core, composed generally of five
cells or carpels, and these assume four difi'erent forms —round, ovate,
obovate, and elliptical and each of these varies in its relation to the
;
axis of the fruit, some extending close to it and forming symmetrical
cells, while others are distant from it and are unsymmetrical.
These being the principal characters with which we have to deal, I
shall now proceed to treat of them individually.
19. CLASSIFICATION OF APPLES. XIU
1. The Stamens. — I have already stated that these occupy three
different positions in the tube, have adopted them as the primary
and 1
divisions of this system, having found by experience that they are on
the whole the most reliable characters where all are more or less
changeable. The marjinal position is shown in Fim. 1, 2 a, 3, and
4 a ; the median in Fif/s. 5 a, G a, and 7 and the basal in Figs. 8 a
;
and 9 n.
2. The Tube. The tube— is of two distinct forms —the conical and
he funnel-shaped — and these are more or less modified in shape, as will
be seen on reference to the various diagrams. The outlines of the
conical tube, as shown in F'^s. 1, 2, 6, and 9, proceed from the base
of the sepals in a curved line downwards towards the core, forming an
inverted cone. These curves are generally inwards, but occasionally
they are outwards, as in Fuj. 1, which has suggested to me the forma-
tion of another division under the name of urn-shaped but it occurs;
so seldom that no importance need be attached to it. The lines of
the funnel-shaped tube proceed, like those of the conical, from the
base of the sepals, curving outwards in the same downward direction,
and then, curving inwards, form a hump or shoulder which is higher or
lower than the middle of the tube and this has the appearance of a
;
funnel shape, as is shown in Figs. 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8.
3. The Cay-pels. —
These constitute what is popularly called the core
of the apple. They are generally five, occasionally they are four,
and I have seen only three, but this is very rarely met with. These
carpels or seed-cells vary in shape. If one is spht down the middle
its walls or membranous lining will be either rounds as represented in
Fig. 2 b ; ovate, as in Fig. 6 b ; obovate, as in Fig. 9 6; or elliptical,
as in Fig. 4 b. Then in relation to the axis of the fruit, they are
either axile or abaxile. When the walls extend to the axis, and these
characters will be best seen by making a transverse section of the fruit,
the cells are symmetrical, as shown in Figs. 10 and 11, and then they
are said to be axile, whether they are open, as in Fig. 11, or closed, as
in Fig. 10. When they are distant from the axis, and the cells are
unsymmetrical, as shown in Fig. 12, they are called abaxile.
4. —
The Sepals or Eye. These are a portion of the remains of the
flower, which in their original form, when accompanied by the corolla,
were uniformly expanded and spreading. After the petals drop, and
as the fruit develops, they gradually assume various directions, and
when it is perfectly matured we find them in four distinct forms.
The first of these is shown in Fig. 13, where the segments are quite
reflexed, frequently so much as to fall back flat on the fruit in tha
20. XIV THE FRUIT MANUAL.
m
y
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
F g. 3.
Fig. 6. Fig. 4.
Fig. 7.
6-
Fig. 6.
Fig. 9.
Fix. 8.
22. ;
XYl THE FBUIT MANUAL.
form of a star; they are then said to be divergent. In Fig. 14 we
have another form, in which the segments are never reflexed, but are
erect with their margins merely touching and their points divergent
and these are erect convergent. Then there is the flat convergent
position [Figs. 15 and 16), in which the segments are flat, closing the
eye, but with their margins merely touching and not overlapping each
other. And lastly we have the connivent form (Figs. 17 and 18), in
which the segments are all close together, overlapping each other and
forming a compact cone.
The minor divisions require no great explanation. They classify
the fruit according to form as they are round or oblate, conical or
ovate, and these again are further divided according to their surface
colouring. This latter character requires a little explanation. When
fruit is said to be pale it signifies that it is of an uniform colour of
yellow or green, notwithstanding that it may be faintly tinged on the
Bun side with orange or pale red. It is said to be striped when the
only additional colour to that of the ground colour consists of distinct
red stripes without any ground colour of red. It is said to be coloured
when the skin is wholly or partially a decided red, and this may be
accompanied with stripes or with some russet. The 7'usset skin is that
in which a russet coat prevails. When a russet coat has a brown or
red cheek the fruit is not on that account to be classed in the coloured
section. In every case I have indicated the time of year during which
the fruit is in use as a further help to the identification of it.
23. SYNOPSIS OF THE CLASSIFICATION.
ANALYTICAL KEY.
In all Apples the stamens are inserted either near the margin, in the
middle, or at the base of the tube and these characteristics constitute
;
the three primary divisions of this classification.
Stamens marpnal A.
Stamens median B.
Stamens basal C.
A. STAMENS MARGINAL.
Tube conical I.
Tube funnel-shaped . . . .II.
I. Tube Conical.
Cells round, axile. Group
Calyx divergent 1
Calyx erect convergent 2
Calyx flat convergent 3
Calyx connivent 4
Cells round, abaxile.
* Calyx divergent 5
Calyx erect convergent 6
Calyx flat convergent 7
Calyx connivent 8
Cells ovate, axile.
Calyx divergent 9
Calyx erect convergent 10
Calyx flat convergent 11
Calyx connivent 12
Cells ovate, abaxile.
Calyx divergent 13
Calyx erect convergent 14
Calyx flat convergent 15
Calyx connivent 16
Cells obovate, axile.
Calyx divergent 17
Calyx erect convergent 18
Calyx flat convergent 19
Calyx connivent 20
Cells obovate, abaxile.
Calyx divergent 21
Calyx erect convergent 22
Calyx flat convergent 23
Calyx connivent .24
b