APPU2S. 11 



AROMATIC RUSSET. Fruit, medium sized, two inches and a 

 half wide, and about two inches and a quarter high ; roundish ovate, 

 and flattened at both ends. Skin, greenish yellow, almost entirely 

 covered with brownish grey russet, strewed with brownish scales on 

 the shaded side, and slightly tinged with brownish red, strewed with 

 silvery scales on the side exposed to the sun. Eye, small and open, 

 with broad recurved segments, and set in a rather shallow basin. 

 Stalk, short, inserted in a deep and round cavity. Flesh, greenish 

 yellow, firm, crisp, brisk, sugary, and richly aromatic. 



A very richly flavoured dessert apple of the first quality, in use from 

 December to February. 



The tree is very hardy, and an abundant bearer. 



The Golden Russet is often confounded with this, but the former is covered with 

 cinnamon-coloured russet and has often a bright red cheek next the sun as if 

 varnished. 



ASHMEAD'S KERNEL. Fruit, below medium size, two inches 

 and a half to two and three-quarters wide, and two and a quarter to 

 two and a half high, round and flattened, but sometimes considerably 

 elongated. Skin, light greenish yellow, covered with yellowish brown 

 russet, and a tinge of brownish orange next the sun. Eye, small and 

 partially open, placed in a moderately deep round and plaited basin. 

 Stamens, marginal ; tube, conical. Stalk, short, inserted in a round 

 and deep cavity. Flesh, yellowish, firm, crisp, juicy, sugary, rich, 

 and highly aromatic. Cells, obovate ; axile, slit. 



A dessert apple of the very first quality, possessing all the richness 

 of the Nonpareil, but with a more sugary juice. It comes into use in 

 November, and is in greatest perfection from Christmas till May. 



The tree is very hardy, an excellent bearer, and will succeed in 

 situations unfavourable to the Nonpareil, to which its leaves and shoots 

 bear such a similarity as to justify Mr. Lindley in believing it to be a 

 seedling from that variety. 



I have seen an apple called Improved Ashmead' s Kernel, which is no 

 improvement at all. It is much like the old one, and has more orange 

 next the sun. 



This delightful apple was raised at Gloucester, about the beginning of last 

 century, by Dr. Ashmead, an eminent physician of that city. The original tree 

 existed within the first quarter of the present century, in what had originally 

 been Dr. Ashmead 's garden, but was destroyed in consequence of the ground 

 being required for building. It stood on the spot now occupied by Clarence Street. 



It is difficult to ascertain the exact period when it was raised ; but the late Mr. 

 Hignell, an orchardist at Tewkesbury, in Gloucestershire, informed me in 1840 

 that the first time he ever saw the fruit of Ashmead's Kernel was from a tree in 

 the nursery of Mr. Wheeler, of Gloucester, in the year 1796, and that the tree in 

 question had been worked from the original, and was at that time upwards of 

 thirty years old. From this it may be inferred that the original tree had attained 

 some celebrity by the middle of last century. Ashmead's Kernel has long been a 

 favourite apple in all the gardens of West Gloucestershire, but it does not seem to 

 have been known in other parts of the country. Like the Ribston Pippin it appears 

 to have remained long in obscurity, before its value was generally appreciated ; it 



