314 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 54 



for a considerable period after having been stored. Ripens in 

 early autumn and keeps until the end of winter. 



" Grown almost throughout Germany. 



"Saffranecke. Saflron Apple. In quality scarcely second to 

 any apple, this is also nearly globose and but an inch and a half in 

 diameter, the breadth not rarely a little exceeding the length. 

 Color something between green, yellow, and pale saffron; in warm- 

 and dry seasons adorned with dots and narrow streakings of scarlet 

 and orange ; in moist and cloudy summers devoid of any such mark- 

 ings. Flesh tender, sweet, slightly acidulous, luscious, and with a 

 kind of spicy pungency which commends it to any palate. More- 

 over, it is delightfully fragrant. Begins to ripen in early autumn, 

 and keeps until the vernal equinox, and frequently even longer. 



"Cultivated at Hildesheim, particularly in the orchards of the 

 monks at the monastery in Sulta, located outside the city. 



"Hartlinge Rot. Red Harding. Either much flattened at the 

 ends and orbicular, or now and then quite globose; in size also as 

 variable, but on the average perhaps about two inches high, and 

 two and a half in breadth. Color rose-red, marked with long blood- 

 red stripes. Flesh rather solid and dense, yet very tender, juicy, 

 acidulous, and with a peculiarly luscious flavor. Rather pleasantly 

 scented. Ripening in early autumn, and the most enduring of all 

 apples, sometimes keeping until the middle of the next summer, and, 

 according to the statements of some, even longer than that. 



" It is found in almost all orchards of nearly every part of 

 Germany." 



I apprehend that a skillful pomologic artist should be able to 

 draw and color these apples and pears so vividly word-pictured by 

 this perhaps the very first of descriptive pomologists, and for the 

 history of pomology it may be doubted that there are extant any 

 more important chapters than these written by Valerius Cordus 

 three hundred and seventy years ago. 



Commemorating Valerius Cordus, Plumief established the genus 

 Cordia in the year 1703. 



