base. Skin yellowish grey, covered with a thin russet, and very slightly tinged with brown on the sunny side. Flesh yellowish white, crisp, tender, with a saccharine and highly flavoured aromatic juice. A dessert apple from November till February. This is a very neat French apple, and has been some years in the London nurseries, where it is often sold under the name of Aromatic Russet. The tree is a rather small grower, with slender, smooth, wiry branches, which seldom produce any spurs upon those of the present year it is hardy, and a good bearer. 170. GOLDEN RUSSET. Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 983. Forsyth, Ed. 3. No. 57. Fruit below the middle size, pretty regular in its outline, without angles, generally about two inches deep, and two inches and a quarter in diameter. Eye rather small, close, moderately depressed, surrounded by irregular plaits, part of which are more prominent than the rest. Stalk very short, deeply inserted in an uneven narrow cavity, not protruding so far as the base. Skin thick, of a pale copper-coloured yellowish russet, very thick and rough on the shaded side, with a few patches, occasionally, of bright red on the sunny side, and verrucose at the base. Flesh pale yellow, very firm and crisp. Juice not plentiful, but saccharine, of an aromatic and slightly musky flavour. A dessert apple from December till April. The Golden Russet has been known in our gardens ever since the time of Ray, who makes it synonymous with the Aromatic Russet. The trees are very hardy, bearing well in bleak situations; they grow to a good size, and are rather remarkable, in having a profusion of slender pendulous branches. 171. HORSHAM RUSSET. G. Lindl. in Hort. Trans. Vol. iv. p. 69. Fruit about the size of a Nonpareil, but not so regular in its outline, generally about two inches and a quarter in diameter, and two inches deep. Eye small, closed, in a small depression without angles. Stalk short, rather thick, rather deeply inserted in a wide uneven cavity. Skin pale green, covered with a thin, yellowish grey russet round its upper part, with a pale salmon-coloured tinge on the sunny side. Flesh greenish white, firm, crisp. Juice plentiful, of a high aromatic Nonpareil flavour. A dessert apple from November till March. Raised from the seed of a Nonpareil about thirty years ago, by Mrs. Goose, of Horsham Saint Faith's, near Norwich. It is a very hardy tree, and a good bearer. 172. HUNT'S DUKE OF GLOUCESTER. Hort. Trans. Vol. iv. p. 525. Hunt's Nonpareil. Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 659. Fruit middle-sized, resembling a Nonpareil in form, but is a little more oval. Skin a clear green on the shaded side, but little of that colour is visible, nearly the whole being covered with thin russet, becoming coarser and thicker round the eye; on the sunny side it is tinged with a reddish brown. Flesh white, mixed with green, like the old Nonpareil, crisp, juicy, and high flavoured. A dessert apple from November till March or April. Raised by Dr. Fry, of Gloucester, from a seed of the Nonpareil, and was first exhibited at the Horticultural Society in 1820. 173. KNOBBY RUSSET. p. 219. Hort. Trans. Vol. iv. Fruit middle-sized, of an oval form. Eye considerably depressed. Stalk short, deeply inserted. Skin yellow, with a mixture of green, but nearly covered with russetty warts. Flesh yellowish, crisp, not juicy, but sweet and high flavoured. A dessert apple from November till May. Fruit from Midhurst, in Sussex, gathered from the tree in January, 1820, was exhibited at the Horticultural Society in March and May following. It is a valuable fruit, and extremely hardy. 174. MARTIN NONPAREIL. Hort. Trans. Vol. iii. p. 456. Pom. Mag. t. 79. Fruit larger than that of the old Nonpareil, and more irregular in figure; it is generally roundish, sometimes approaching a conical form. Eye rather wide, surrounded by broad angular plaits. Stalk short, thick, not deeply inserted. Skin lemon colour, sprinkled and shaded with yellowish brown russet. Flesh yellow, firm. Juice saccharine and rich. A dessert apple from December till May. This very valuable apple was raised by the Rev. George Williams, of Martin Hussingtree, near Worcester. It had been received by him from a nursery, as a crab-stock, about the year 1795. It is a great bearer as a standard tree, and highly valuable to those who cultivate fruit for the market, as it is in perfection at a period of the year when good apples fetch a high price. 175. OLD NONPAREIL. Langley, Pom. t. 79. f. 4. Pom. Mag. t. 86. Non-Pareille. Duhamel, 35. t. 12. f. 2. Reinette Nompareille. Ib. p. 51. Grüne Reinette, of the Germans, according to the Pom. Mag. Fruit approaching to middle-sized, flat, broadest at the base. Eye very small, prominent, or very slightly depressed. Stalk an inch long, slender, three quarters of which protrudes beyond the base. Skin, when fully ripened, greenish yellow, slightly coated with light russet; occasionally, where fully exposed to the sun, of a reddish brown. Flesh very firm, crisp. Juice not plentiful, but of a most singularly rich, poignant, aromatic flavour. One of our most admired dessert apples, in its greatest perfection from Christmas to Lady-day. Switzer, in 1724, says, "The Nonpareil is no stranger in England, though it might have had its origin in France; yet there are trees of it about the Ashtons, in Oxfordshire, of about one hundred years old, which (as they have it by tradition) were first brought out of France, and planted by a Jesuit, in Queen Mary's or Queen Elizabeth's time." From which it appears that it must have been in our gardens above two centuries. The trees are regularly good bearers; and when grafted upon the Doucin stock, upon a good soil, and under judicious management, their fruit has been as perfect as the best of our newest productions. 176. OLD ROYAL RUSSET, of the old Gardens. Fruit above the middle size, rather irregular in its outline, about three inches in diameter, and two inches and a half deep. Eye small, with a closed calyx, deeply sunk in a narrow, oblique, irregular basin, surrounded by blunt plaits. Skin a rough grey russet, upon a green ground, with dull brown breaking through on the sunny side. Flesh greenish white, very firm. Juice not plentiful, very sharp sub-acid, with a slight astringency before fully matured. A culinary apple from November till April. Late in the season, when it begins to shrivel, it eats pretty well; but before that time it is too harsh to bring to table. The trees grow to the largest size, are very hardy, and in all seasons great bearers. The Leathercoat Russet of some country orchards is very different from this, very inferior, and making a very ugly tree, mostly full of disease, and not worth cultivating. 177. PATCH'S RUSSET. Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 993. Fruit middle-sized, somewhat ovate, slightly angular on its sides, about two inches and a quarter deep, and two inches and a half or two inches and three quarters in diameter. Eye small, with a long, slender, connivent calyx, placed in a narrow, somewhat irregularly formed basin. Stalk an inch long, very slender, inserted in a funnel-shaped cavity, one half protruding beyond the base. Skin pale greenish yellow, covered with a thin grey russet. Flesh pale yellowish white, crisp. Juice brisk acid, with a rich aromatic flavour. A dessert apple from November till March. 178. PENNINGTON'S SEEdling. Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 778. Fruit above the middle size, round, slightly angular on the sides, and somewhat flattened, broadest at the base, and narrowed at the crown; about three inches in diameter, and two inches and a quarter deep. Eye closed with long slender segments of the calyx, in a rather shallow irregularly formed hollow. Stalk three quarters of an inch long, strong, inserted in a wide uneven cavity, protruding beyond the base. Skin green when first gathered, with numerous small russetty specks on the shaded side; where exposed to the sun, covered pretty thickly with a scabrous warty russet, and tinged a little with pale brown. Flesh yellowish white, firm, crisp, juicy, saccharine mixed with a brisk acid, and of an agreeable aromatic flavour. A dessert apple from November till March. This is a new variety, and appears to be a very valuable apple, the description of which was taken from a fruit grown in the Horticultural Garden at Chiswick in 1830. 179. PILE'S RUSSET. Miller, Ed. 8. No. 17. Fruit above the middle size, irregularly formed, with broad ribs extending from the base to the crown, where it is rather narrow, two inches and three quarters in diameter, and two inches and a quarter deep. Eye |