APPLES. 67 



a conical form. Eye rather wide, surrounded by broad an- 

 gular 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. 



175. Old Nonpareil. Langley, Pom. t. 79. f. 4. 

 Pom. Mag. t. 86. 



Non-Pareille. Duhamel, 35. t. 12. f. 2. 

 Nom-Pareil. Knoop Pom. t. 9. 

 Reinette Nompareille. J6. p. 51. 



GriJne 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 depress- 

 ed. Stalk an inch long, slender, three quarters of which 

 protrudes beyond the base. Skin when fully ripened, green- 

 ish 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 singu- 

 larly 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 gar- 

 dens 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. 

 Leather-coat Russet. 



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 gray russet, upon a green ground, with dull 

 brown breaking through on the sunny side. Flesh greenish 



