John Nash: April at last

April at last!

John Nash is a retired, well sort of retired, fruit farm manager in Kirdford who enjoys scribbling about life on the farm from the now to days gone by.

Hip hip hooray! April at last and the signs of spring are eagerly awaited. Now, did you resist the chance of playing an April Fool’s joke on someone, or maybe were you the recipient of one? April Fools day… where did it come from?

Some think that it goes back to 1563 when the Julian Calendar was changed to the Gregorian one by the French at the Council of Trent. Many, due to the obvious slow movement of news in those times, continued to celebrate the New Year at the beginning of April as the old Julian Calendar stipulated it to be. They quickly became the butt of jokes and hoaxes and were called ‘April Fools’. So it’s a very old tradition that we still follow to this day!

However, there is another idea that it goes back even further to ancient Rome when at the end of March followers of the cult of Cybele enjoyed dressing up in disguise and mocking fellow citizens and even the local magistrates.

Here in the UK it appears during the 18th century, where in Scotland it became a two-day event, starting with ‘Hunting the Gowk’ (Gowk is an old word for the cuckoo, a symbol for a fool) where people were sent on phony errands. This was followed by Tailie Day which involved trying to pin fake tails on folk’s derrières or ‘Kick me’ signs on them. Which means that we can take comfort that for centuries we have at this time of the year all been victims or perpetrators of childish pranks. There again… who wants to grow up!

Anyway… changing the subject and reverting back to farming. It was way back over 50 years ago that I first came across what was then a new practice: the introduction of cross-breeding of some farm animals. Gene manipulation was not known about then, it was long before the episode of Dolly the Sheep! However, in some areas farmers were ahead of the scientists in the way they tried to improve their stock for production and versatility. Even on the two mixed farms that I started my farming life on the owners were forever trying ways to increase the income of the farm by looking at improving the animals that roamed the yard and fields. My first encounter was when one farmer succeeded in getting one of his Muscovy ducks to mate with his prime cockerel. The resulting chicks from the incubator were a delight. They had webbed feet but beaks instead of bills and clucked softly too. A novelty perhaps, but proof that such crosses were possible with careful husbandry and a fair dose of just good luck!

It’s only recently though that real movement has been made in advancing this line of work. At a farm in Suffolk work has been going on in crossbreeding the pigs and beef cattle on the estate. They have had some considerable success in the programme and have a small herd of some 60-odd animals from this breeding programme. The Food Standard Agency and the Meat Marketing Board are at present working together to try to set the standards for the marketing of the resulting meat products. The animals for the present time are known as Beps – presumably an attempt to unite the mixing of beef and pig genomes.

So far the information on trial results is very favourable. The average litter is around four animals and growth is on a par with normal rates. This should give the farmer a far greater return per animal as well as increasing the choices available on the marketing of the finished carcass. This, say the Agency, is due to the fact that the meat can be used for good quality bacon production or butchered for the dual use of roasting joints that retain first class beef qualities. Pork and beef from the same animal!

National trials are set to commence at the beginning of April with Beps being placed around the country on various farms to see how they respond to normal farm practice. Interesting don’t you think? John Nash

Egremont Russet

An occasional mini-series on apple varieties… First recorded in 1872 this is the apple that most regard as the very best of the russets. Believed to have been bred by the Earl of Egremont in Petworth, this is the wonderful Egremont Russet.

Any of you who are as ancient as I am will remember the Radio Gardener of our youth… the wonderful Fred Streeter, who always claimed that it did indeed come from Petworth. Mind you, as Lord Egremont’s Head Gardener at Petworth House you could say he might had been a tad biased. I can still hear his favourite saying when asked a gardening question on the wireless. He would pause for a minute, then in his broad Sussex accent, “Ah… you know… the answer lies in the soil.”

For many years this was the second most grown apple in the UK, only surpassed by the Cox’s Orange Pippin. Now I’m afraid the Gala apple is by far the largest variety grown, but perhaps that’s one to look at later. Much later. Egremonts, like all Russets, are inclined to be the Marmite of apples. You either like them or hate them. Yes, the skin can be like tough sandpaper but that wonderful nutty taste which is so unique to the Russet, is to die for!

A warm autumn evening, a large old apple tree to sit under; a pint of beer or glass of wine; a chunk of cheddar and a Russet. That’s true Bliss! John Nash

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