2-889-457 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Cider-Making in Devonshire - Collecting the Grass-Fruit, 1850. 'The earliest dropping of the apples takes place about the middle of August. These are termed "grass fruit," and are collected into a sack, or else picked up in baskets and carried directly to the pound-house...As the apples continue to fall from the trees in greater numbers, they are collected in large heaps, spread over a considerable space on the grass, where they are allowed to remain exposed to the sun and air until the approach of frost, when they are all carried to the pound-house, what have remained on the trees being shaken off or else knocked down with a pole...Some allow the ripe apples which have spontaneously fallen to lie on the ground for ten days. This practice is objectionable, as exposing the fruit to rain and dews. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.