Our viands

The pear, which botanically is nearly related to the apple, is one of the most delicious fruits grown, and the modem varieties are innumerable, yet in flavour none can excel the old varieties known as beurries^ jargonelles^ chaumontelles, etc., all of which show a French origin. Jersey is now famous for pears, and they are grown of immense size there, as also in many of our colonies, but none seem to attain the * For many particulars relating to fruits and vegetables I am indebted to a little book entitled ' Vegetable Substances used for the Food of Man,' published in 1846. NUTS AND APPLES 181 weight of those seen by Marco Polo in China, which weighed ten pounds each, and were yet of excellent flavour. The Romans are said to have introduced this fruit into England, and it was certainly very anciently cultivated in Greece, for it is named by Homer. Of apples and their kindred we need only mention further the Siberian crab, which used to be cultivated in its two varieties of yellow and red, chiefly for the beauty of the flowers and fruit, which latter is not of much value except as a preserve. The red variety with the stems attached, lightly boiled in a rich syrup, makes a very ornamental dessert dish, and is well flavoured ; but the core is large in propor- tion to the pulp. The medlar, like the quince, cannot be eaten as it comes from the tree; but when suffered to decay, the flavour is very fine, and an excellent jelly, resembling guava, may be made from it. The small fruit is much superior in flavour to the large variety, but it is one of those fruits which is less cultivated and esteemed than formerly, having been supplanted by others which now reach our shores from many distant lands. Apples were formerly much used in old English sports and were always ducked for by the girls and boys on Halloween, causing great merriment and much dabbling in water, which would now be thought hurtful. But there was another sport indulged in, wherein a stick with an apple at one end and a lighted candle at the other being tied up to the ceiling, was jumped at, the lucky jumper catching the apple, whilst the awkward or unlucky, found himself burnt by the lighted candle. The apple also entered into another old superstitious ceremony of Halloween, for 1 82 OUR VIANDS it was believed that if a young woman on that night ate an apple in front of a looking-glass, her future husband would appear and look over her shoulder, regarding which custom Burns makes an old grandmother thus reprove her grand- child :— ' Ye little skelpie-limmer's face ! I daur you try sic sportin', As seek the foul thief ony place, For him to spae your fortune ; v Nae doubt but ye may get a sight ! Great cause ye hae to fear it ; For mony a ane has gotten a flight, And lived and died deleeret, On sic a night.' CHAPTER XIV GRAPES, FIGS, AND ORANGES