20 OUR COMMON FRUITS. 



Pippin. The tree, which originated at Newtown in Long 

 Island, is rather slender and of slow growth, being 

 always remarkable, even while quite young, for its pecu- 

 liarly rough bark ; it is rarely grown largely or success- 

 fully in New England, but is very much cultivated in 

 the States of New York and New .Jersey, thousands 

 of barrels being annually produced on the banks of the 

 Hudson. The fruit is of medium size, about 3 in. in 

 diameter, and 2^ deep, roundish, but a little irregular in 

 outline, owing to two or three obscure ribs on the sides, 

 and broadest at the base, with a stalk -i in. long, deeply 

 sunk in a wide cavity, and a small calyx set in a shallow 

 basin ; the skin of a dull olive green, with faint brownish 

 blush on one side, dotted with small grey specks, and 

 with delicate russet rays diverging round the stalk. The 

 flesh is of a greenish- white tint, very juicy and crisp, of 

 fine aroma and delicious flavour. The yellow variety, 

 which is handsomer and has a higher perfume, but is less 

 juicy, has a smooth skin and livelier red cheek, without 

 spots, but with the same russet marks at the stalk, the 

 flavour being equally good with the other, so that it is 

 not easy to give pre-eminence to either. The fruit is in 

 perfection in March, but is eaten from December till 

 May, and has been preserved even till the American day 

 of days, the 4th July, as it will keep very long without 

 the least shrivelling. The Newtown Pippin is grown in 

 England, but the flavour is considered inferior to that of 

 the imported fruit. Other sorts, however, are not unfre- 

 quently palmed off upon us in its stead. Another variety 

 which has been very popular of late years is the pretty 

 little Lady Apple, or Api, which is usually seen in Covent 

 Garden tricked out in a gay vestment of coloured tissue 

 paper. Of very ancient family are these little " Ladies," 

 though now generally known as American Apples, and 

 therefore here described under this head, for it is said 

 that they were brought from Peloponnesus to Borne by 

 Appius Claudius, and they are mentioned by the oldest 

 writers on such subjects as well-known fruits. Worlidge, 

 in 1676, notices "the Pomme appease, a curious apple 

 lately propagated : the fruit is small and pleasant, which 



