NOTE.—The leaf of _Quercus Robur sessiliflora_ has a greater number of divisions than that of _Q. Robur pedunculata_. These lobes are somewhat more acute at the apex. This and its longer petiole, and general brighter colour of the whole leaf, gives the former tree, when in foliage, a lighter aspect than the latter. HOW TO GROW GOOD ORCHARDS CHAPTER XLVII. ON THE APPLE AND PEAR AS ORCHARD FRUITS. In discussing the subject of fruit in relation to the farm, we shall find that the number of species is exceedingly limited, being, indeed, confined to two: the apple and the pear. This paucity of species, however, is amply compensated for in an extended and constantly extending list of _sorts_, or varieties, which, in both species, amount to several hundreds. The apple, which we shall first describe, is admitted on all hands to be derived from the wild crab-apple (_Pyrus malus_), which is considered to be a native tree, to which position its general appearance in woods and hedges all over the island would seem to give it no small claim. The fruit of the crab is exceedingly austere, and hence sour-tempered people are said to be “crabbed.” The expressed juice makes a strong vinegar, called “Verjuice”—in the vulgar, “Varjes”—and hence Akerman, in his “Wiltshire Tales,” has given a cross-grained woman the name of “Mistress Varjes.” Verjuice is a very popular remedy for sprains and bruises, and hence on most farms having trees of crab-apples, the fruit is made into vinegar, and kept separately for medicinal or domestic use. The wild crab is very various in the size, colour, and flavour of its fruit, varying in the latter point from an austerity that, on biting an apple, would make one wince again, to that of an agreeable acid flavour, almost equal to some of our domestic apples. Taking into consideration this disposition to run into varieties, even in a wild state, we shall not be surprised that, in cultivation, the sorts of apples should be endless, so much so, indeed, that Don, in his “General System of Gardening and Botany,” has copied a list[30] in which are described no less than one thousand four hundred sorts, and in a nurseryman’s list now before us, “Descriptive Catalogue of Fruit Trees, by John Scott, of Merriott Nurseries, Crewkerne, Somerset,” are described as many as one hundred and sixty-six sorts, which he is prepared to supply to purchasers. [30] This list was made out by the Horticultural Society in 1832, and may now be considerably augmented. As an evidence of the facility with which new sorts can be obtained, there is scarcely a country town or place in orchard districts but has given its name to some apple. Thus we have Canadian Pippin, Newtown Pippin, Carlisle and Keswick Codlin, Hawthenden, &c.; and the names of fruit-growers and others attached to apples is almost endless; as thus: Ashmead’s Kernel, Nelson’s Codlin, Lucombe’s Seedling, Lord Nelson, Lord Raglan, &c., &c.