THE ancient custom of wassailing fruit-trees with hot cider on Twelfth Eve, though gradually dying away, still exists in some parts of Devonshire. The farmer proceeds with his men to the orchard, bearing a large can or milk-pail full of hot cider, with roasted apples hissing in it. They then encircle one of the finest trees, and chant the following quaint doggerel rhymes, or some variation thereof :
Here's to thee
Old apple-tree!
Whence thou may bud
And whence thou mayst blow,
And whence thou mayst bear
Apples enow;
Hats full ! Caps full !
Bushels, bushels, sacks full !
And my pockets full too !
Huzza ! huzza !
This rude ditty having been sung or chanted three times, the men's horns are filled and they drink success to the next crop, and finish by throwing a quantity of cider over the tree for luck. Sometimes the rustic party go armed with guns, which, charged with powder only, they fire off amidst the branches.
