Extract of a Letter from the Reverend Henry Miles, D. D. & F. R. S. to the President, Relating to Some Improvements Which May Be Made in Cyder and Perry

N.B. That all the foreign Glasses mentioned in this Paper were nearly of the Shape represented in Tab. I. Fig. r. and about four Inches in Height. IV. Extract of a Letter from the Reverend Henry Miles, D.D. & F.R.S. to the President, relating to some Improvements which may be made in Cyder and Perry. The Letter read Nov. 1745. THE Design of communicating the following Paper to the Royal Society is, to invite Gentlemen, after the Example of a Practice that has long obtained in Herefordshire, to attempt an Improvement of their waste Lands, by planting such kind of Fruit trees, as are mentioned, in Hedges and barren Places; which, for aught appears, would thrive as well in other Counties, perhaps in some Parts of most Counties in England, as in that of Hereford. Extract from a Manuscript, written Anno 1657-8, by Mr. afterwards, Dr. John Beale, & F.R.S. in the Way of an epistolary Address to S. Hartlib, Esq; for his Use and that of Mr. Pell, the then British Resident at Zurich; and which appears to have been intended as a Sequel to that scarce and valuable Piece intituled Herefordshire Orchards, inserted in the later Editions of Mr. Bradley's New Improvement of Planting, &c. Concerning Concerning an excellent Liquor made of a Mixture of rough Pears and Crabs. The Author undertakes to evince, "That Crabs and wild Pears, such as grow in the wildest and barren Clifts, and on Hills, do make the richest, strongest, the most pleasant and lasting Wines that England yet yields, or is ever like to yield." — "I have so well proved it already (says he) by so many hundred Experiments in Herefordshire, that wise Men tell me, that these Parts of England are some hundred thousand Pounds Sterling the better for the Knowledge of it." He mentions, of these Kinds of austere Fruit, the Bareland Pear and the Bromsbury Crab, of which Notice is taken Page 4th of the Tract intitled Herefordshire Orchards; and intimates, "That tho' the Discovery of them was but then lately made, yet they had gotten a great Reputation." — He adds, "The croft Crab and white or red Horse-pear do excel them, and all others, known or spoken of in other Countries." Of the red Horse-pear of Felton or Longland he observes, "That it has a pleasant masculine Vigour, especially in dry Grounds, and hath a peculiar Quality to overcome all Blasts." — Of the Quality of the Fruits he says, "That such is the Effect which the Austerity has upon the Mouth on tasting the Liquor, that the Rustics declare 'tis as if the Roof were filed away; and that neither Man, nor Beast, care to touch one of these Pears, tho' never so ripe." Of the Pear called Imny-Winter, which grows about Rosse (in that County) he observes, "That it is of no no Use but for Cyder; that if a Thief steal it, he would incur a speedy Vengeance; it being a furious Purger; but, being joined with well chosen Crabs, and reserved to a due Maturity, becomes richer than a good French Wine; but, if drank before the Time, it stupefies the Roof of the Mouth, assaults the Brain, and purgeth more violently than a Galenist." This Quality, he apprehends, will sufficiently secure the Fruit from being stolen, tho' the Trees should be planted in the most remote Grounds. Of the Quality of the Liquor he says, "That, according as it is managed, it proves strong Rhenish, Backrac, yea pleasant Canary, sugar'd of itself, or as rough as the fiercest Greek Wine, opening or binding, holding one, two, three, or more Years—that no Mortal can yet say at what Age it is past the best. This (adds he) we can say, that we have kept it till it burn as quickly as Sack, draws the Flame like Naphtha, and fires the Stomach like Aqua Vitæ." He saith, "That he made Trial at his own House with Wine d'Hay, by a Merchant of Bristol highly extoll'd, which, compar'd with a Liquor made of Crabs and wild Pears, was so much inferior, in the Judgment of all, that the Comparison was ridiculous." And he further relates, "That a Gentleman (Sir H. Lingen) a great Planter, and expert in many Experiments, had then by him many Tuns of a Liquor made with this Mixture of Fruit, which he, by a designed Equivocation, called Pearmaine Cyder, that carried the Applause from all Palates—that all his common common Hedges yielded him Store of the said Fruit." To recommend this easiest, cheapest, and most profitable kind of Agriculture, (as he calls it) he says, "That the best of these Pears grow upon very bare and sandy Hills, or Vales; Crabs on any Mound or Bank that may be raised on an Heath; that one Pear tree ordinarily bears yearly 40, 50, 60, 70 Gallons of Statute-Measure, and some 5, 6, or 7 times as much. Since I undertook this Argument (adds he) within 10 Miles of this Place we made in one Year 50,000 Hogsheads, as I examined, not by Fancy, but by Rule and Inquiry; and this shews the Hardiness of the Fruit. Let our noble Patriots weigh, that this is not a Thing in the Air, but a most certain and apparent Truth, importing no less than the Art of raising Store of rich Wines on our common Arable, on our Hills, and waste Grounds; the Charge a Trifle, the Pains very small, the Profit incredible. Hence my Design is to urge the incredible Benefit that would redound to these Nations, if leading Persons would make themselves, their Tenants and Cottagers, all happy by following our Example. I leave the Reader to cast up how many Millions of Hogsheads of Wine, in a few Years, would be raised in the Land. And truly I conceive it the chief Cause, that in all these Times of late Wars, none of our poorest Cottages did see Want; in all Houses they had the same Number of Meals, and the same constant Fare: Our Arable seems not a Jot the less, nor our Pasture the less; and for some Uses the Shadow of the Orchard "chard brings on the Grass a Fortnight the sooner, as commonly for Ewes and Lambs." The Author concludes his Tract with these Words, "If this Discourse be duly valued, we need not raise Wars to destroy one another, or eat up one another, as we do; in a short time we may be pro- vided of Fruit enough for another World as big as this, and to make this a true Paradise." V. Extract of a Letter from Mr. Henry Baker, F.R.S. to Martin Folkes, Esq; President of the Royal Society, concerning the ancient Bridewell at Norwich. SIR, Read Nov. 7. I SHALL beg the Liberty to give you some Part of a Letter I received lately from Mr. William Arderon of Norwich, which mentions a remarkable Piece of Art as well as Antiquity remaining in that City. The last Century (says he), and the present, may be allowed, I think to have produced more useful Discoveries than any five since the Creation: But the Lives and Abilities of us poor Mortals are so short and limited, that, whilst we are finding new Arts, others (perhaps not less useful) slip away from us, and are lost: Nor would he deserve much less of Mankind, who can be so happy to restore the Knowledge of a lost Invention, than he that finds out a new one. And it is of no little Service towards the Recovery