The fruite of apples do differ in greatness, form, colour and taste; some covered with a red skin, others yellowe or greene, varying indefinitely according to the soyle and climate; some very great, some little and many of a middle sort; some are sweet or tastie or something sower; most be of a middle taste between sweet and sour.
So said John Gerard way back in 1597. Being a 'Man of Kent' I have always liked apples, but it seems that lately we don't seem to have the variety that we used to. There must be as many varieties of fruit out there as there have always been, maybe even more, but where are they? Can we get hold of them, or are they forbidden fruit? Over the years wars, fashion, politics, climate, establishments and individuals and, these days, the Common Market, have all affected the type of fruit we eat. Our ancestors were content to eat the wild fruits they found in the woods and hedgerows. When the Romans came along they revolutionized our palates as well as the road system and bathing habits; they introduced many cultivated fruits to Britain, including vines, cherries, mulberries, chestnuts, walnuts and the well-loved apple.
In the Dark Ages, however, everyone seemed more intent on picking fights than picking apples, and the fruit scene went very quiet. Fortunately it was kept alive in quiet corners behind monastery walls, both before and after the Norman invasion. Incidentally, the Normans were quite a fruity lot and brought over a few tips, especially on how to make a good drop of cider, rekindling an interest in fruit. This grew steadily over the next few hundred years but then, what with the Black Death and the climate cooling down, a damper was put on things for a while.
It was the Italians in the Renaissance who brought fruit back into fashion, for the rich at least! They rediscovered art and food, and combined them. They turned the garden into an outdoor room, and there they grew beautiful fruits and presented them at the end of lavish outdoor feasts as an edible art form, either fresh or as candied sweets and conserves. The Tudors were impressed by Renaissance fashion, and Henry VIII was as keen on fruit as he was on wives. Grand gardens were planted Italian style, with some twiddly Tudor bits put in. Fruit trees, trained to fit in with the style of architecture of the time, graced the ornamental gardens. They were harvested to decorate the tables of the rich. Henry VIII realised that Kent was the Garden of England and established orchards at Teynham, which soon became the nucleus of fruit production; others came to see the range of varieties and take grafts for their own gardens. Orchards and market gardens sprang up all over Kent, which had everything going for it: a good soil, proximity to London and a mild climate. Things improved even further with the introduction of printing. The first practical handbook on fruit-growing, written by Mascall in 1572, helped to explain a thing or two to gardeners and aspiring gardeners.
Horticulturally, the seventeenth century was a very fruity era. Plant-hunting became fashionable. Fruits as well as ornamental plants flooded in. Roman peaches and Algerian apricots as well as mulberries were introduced by John Tradescant the Elder to grace the gardens of the rich. During the Protectorate, Cromwell's agents attempted to keep fruit-growing alive by ordering mass planting of fruit trees throughout the land for rich and poor alike. When Charles II was restored to the throne this policy continued. After all, he was very fond of fruit, especially oranges. Dwarfing rootstocks and the real art of pruning arrived from France, where it was discovered that trees could be clipped to encourage fruiting as well as to keep them in good shape. The cordon had been born! Closer spacing meant more trees and with more choice the season could also be extended, some apples being ready in July and later ones could be stored until May. Dwarfing trees were very fashionable and were planted up in huge geometric parterres in grand gardens.
But, in the mid-1700s gardening fashion changed: sweeping green landscapes were in and the edible fruits and vegetables were out. They were exiled to the walled garden where they could be kept out of sight. Then the gardeners on the private estates got into trained trees on south walls, and competed to see who could get the most varieties for the longest period of time. The fashion spread and everyone wanted fruits, in as many sizes and shapes and forms as possible. So the nursery business started up to supply the demand.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the then president of the newly formed London Horticultural Society, one Thomas Andrew Knight, had a cunning plan. He believed that plants had only a certain life span, and that cuttings or grafted material were the same age as the parent from which they were taken, and so would die at the same time as the parent. So he started a programme to breed new young healthy fruits from seed. His theory was utter balderdash, but the result was the fruit breeding industry, and since then no one has looked back. The famous nurseries of Laxton's and Rivers, continued to bring out new varieties (who hasn't heard of Laxton's Supreme and Early Rivers) and the fruit avalanche was well under way. One of the initial aims of the London Horticultural Society (which became the Royal Horticultural Society in 1861) was to improve the range and quality of all produce, both in the private garden and the market place and also to provide a centre for pomological research. In an attempt to catalogue and experiment they collected and planted up a huge fruit collection in Chiswick and in 1826 published a catalogue of 3,825 fruit varieties.
These days, with the introduction of cold storage, breeding programmes, integrated pest control and mechanical harvesting, we can get apples throughout the year. Too many, in fact. The supermarkets insisted on all apples that they bought should be of the same size and the same colour and without blemish. Unfortunately, with our colder climate, English growers could only grow the best tasting apples. But as they didn't look right the wholesalers didn't want them, so the farmers took advantage of the EU's grubbing out scheme, and by this time we have probably lost a quarter of our apple orchards, if not more.
By the way, if you ever get the opportunity to go to an apple tasting, do go. There is one held in Blackmoor, just up the A325, every year. There may only be about thirty different varieties there, but it does give an idea of the range of tastes available. And if you do find one you like you can always buy a few - or even a tree.
Happy gardening.
written by Bill Hutchings
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