Mistletoe did not find my apple-trees congenial, there was only one piece on all my fruit land, and it was regarded as something of a curiosity.  But in other parts of the neighbourhood it flourished abundantly, though I noticed that it was most frequent where the land was poorer and the trees not so luxuriant.  It was also to be seen on tall black poplars, and I have a piece—­planted purposely—­on a hawthorn in my garden here.  It grows in parts of the Forest, especially on the white-beams in Sloden, in curiously small detached pieces like lichen.  The white-beam was a favourite tree of the Romans for the wood-work of agricultural implements, being tough and strong.

Mistletoe is quite easy to propagate by rubbing the glutinous berries and their seeds on the under side of a small branch at the angle where it joins a limb.  There it will often flourish unless snapped up by a wandering missel-thrush.  It is very slow in growth, but, when it attains a fair size, is strikingly pretty in winter when the tree is otherwise bare, for its peculiar shade of faded green, with its white and glistening berries, makes an unusual effect—­quite different from that of any other green thing.  It is rare on the oak, and, possibly for that reason, the Druids regarded the oak upon which it grew as sacred.

The transition from apples to cider is a natural one, and cider is a great institution in Worcestershire.  On all the larger farms, and in every village, an ancient cider-mill can be found.  It consists of a circular block of masonry, perhaps ten feet in diameter, the outer circumference of which is a continuous stone trough, about 18 inches across, and 15 inches deep, called “the chase,” in which a huge grindstone, weighing about 15 cwt., revolves slowly, actuated by a horse walking round the chase in an unending circle.  The apples are introduced in small quantities into the chase, and crushed into pulp by the grindstone.  The pulp is then removed and placed between hair cloths, piled upon each other, until a stack is erected beneath a powerful press, worked by a lever, on the principle of a capstan.  As the pressure increases, the liquor runs into a vessel below, from whence it is carried in buckets, and poured into barrels in the cellar.  Fermentation begins almost immediately, by which the sugar is converted in carbonic acid gas and alcohol; the gas escapes and the spirit remains in the liquor.

Such is the simplest method of cider-making, and it produces a drink thoroughly appreciated by the men, for we made annually 1,500 to 2,000 gallons, and there was very little left when next year’s cider-making began.  Where cider is made for sale, much greater care is necessary; only the soundest fruit is used, and the vinous fermentation is allowed to begin in open vessels before the pulp is pressed.  When the extracted liquor is placed in the barrels every effort is made to prevent the acetic fermentation, which produces vinegar, and spoils the cider for discriminating