376 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



MOTHER APPLE. 

 SYNONYMS: American Mother, Gardner 's Apple, Queen Anne. 



[PLATE XXX.] 



This choice early winter apple, though hardly entitled to desig- 

 nation as a new sort, is being found adapted to a much wider climatic 

 range than has previously been thought possible. 



The exact time of its origin is not known, but it appears to have 

 originated on the farm of Gen. Stephen P. Gardner, of Bolton, Mass., 

 rather early in the last century. The first public notice that it 

 received appears to have been in 1844, when Hovey reported it as 

 having been exhibited before the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society the preceding autumn. a 



At the North American Pomological Convention held in Buffalo 

 in September, 1848, it was decided to be of "first-rate character," 

 and a description and outline of the variety were published in the 

 account of that meeting for that year. 6 The first adequate descrip- 

 tion and outline of the variety were published by Hovey c in 1849. 

 With five other varieties it was listed by the American Pomological 

 Society in 1852 in a group of "New Varieties which Promise Well," 

 and it appears to have quickly attained high reputation as a dessert 

 apple. The small size of tree, earliness of ripening season, and the 

 relative susceptibility of the fruit to apple scab appear to have held 

 it out of the market lists until recently. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Form roundish oblong to oblong conic, indistinctly ribbed; size 

 large; cavity regular, small to medium in size, moderately deep, 

 with gradual slope and russet markings; stem short, moderately 

 stout; calyx segments small, converging; eye small, closed; surface 

 moderately smooth, rather dull, rarely glossy; color rich yellow, 

 washed with mixed red and striped with crimson; dots numerous, 

 small to medium in size, brown and yellow; skin moderately thick; 

 core rather large, roundish, clasping, open; calyx tube rather deep, 

 varying from funnel shaped to cylindrical; seeds small, plump, 

 brown, numerous; flesh yellowish, fine grained, crisp, and juicy; 

 flavor mild but distinctly subacid and rich, with a characteristic 

 aroma which distinguishes it from other sorts; quality very good. 

 Season, November to January in the northern winter apple regions, 

 but becoming a late fall apple farther south. 



Like some other sorts that have long been known and somewhat 

 planted in the northern winter apple districts chiefly as home orchard 



a Magazine of Horticulture, 1844, p. 210. 



& Transactions of the N. Y. State Agricultural Society for 1848, p. 281. 



c Magazine of Horticulture, January, 1849, p. 65. 



