Sample Newsletter February 2005

Maisie Stevens reflects on the older varieties of fruit

Recently, I listened to a Radio 4 programme on fruit, especially apples, in which the participants were deploring both the loss of flavour in those apples most commonly sold in the supermarkets, and the very small range generally available.

It gave me some food for thought, particularly in view of what The Old Statistical Account had to say about the growing of hard fruits at that time.  The report for Carluke in Lanarkshire, a well-known centre of the industry, offers a fascinating list of the names of some of the species of apples and pears grown there.

Here are a few examples:  (apples) Whistleberry, Lady’s Finger, Pursemouth, Summer Strawberry, Bloodheart.  (Pears) Grey Honey, Farrow Cow, Brier Bush, and Muirfowl Egg.  Inall, the account states that there were no fewer than 47 species of apples and 32 species of pears grown in the area.

In an age when we constantly hear about the importance of choice, it is interesting to think that these reports were written in the 1790s!