th a great show of innocence; the effect when
he had broken the shell was electrical; he fled with downcast tail and
complete dejection, and nothing would ever induce him to touch an egg
again.

The whirligig of time has indeed brought its revenge in the matter of
the market value of eggs. In Worcestershire we have had to give them
away at eighteen or twenty for a shilling; last (1918-1919) winter we
sold some at 7s. a dozen, and many more at 5s.

CHAPTER XIV.

ORCHARDS--APPLES--CIDER--PERRY.

"Lo! sweetened with the summer light,
The full-juiced apple, waxing over-mellow
Drops in a silent autumn night."
--_The Lotus-Eaters_.

A curious old punning Latin line, illustrating various meanings of the
word _malus_, an apple, seems appropriate, as a commencement, to
writing about apples; it is I think very little known, and too good to
be forgotten. _Malo, malo, malo, malo_; it is translated thus:

"_Malo_, I would rather be,
_Malo_, in an apple-tree,
_Malo_, than a bad boy,
_Malo_, in adversity."

The fruit was an important item on the Aldington Manor Farm, and when
later I bought an adjoining farm of seventy acres with orcharding, and
had planted nine acres of plum trees, my total fruit area amounted to
about thirty acres. There was a saying in the neighbourhood which
pleased me greatly, that "it was always harvest at Aldington"; it was
not so much intended to signify that there was always something coming
in, as to convey an impression of the constant activity and employment
of labour that continued throughout the seasons without intermission,
though it was true that with the diversity of my crops and stock,
there was a more or less continuous return. I had a shock when an old
friend in a neighbouring village spoke of me as a "pomologist," the
title seemed much too distinguished, and personally I have never
claimed the right to anything better than the rather pretty old title
of "orchardist."

The position of an orchard is of the utmost importance; shelter is
necessary, but it must be above the ordinary spring frost level of the
district. I should say that no orchard should be less than 150 feet
above sea-level, to be fairly safe, and 200 feet would in nearly any
ordinary spring be quite secure against frost. The climate has a
remarkable effect upon the colour of apples, and colour is one of the
most valuable of market propert