THE VARIETIES OF APPLE 73 



There are many odd varieties of apple not found in 

 any list but about which questions are likely to arise. 

 One of these is the Sweet-and-Sour. There is an old 

 ribbed variety of this name, the ribs having an acid flesh 

 and the furrows sweetish; it is little known and of no 

 special value. Apples are sometimes found that are 

 sweetish on one side and sourish on the other. The 

 reasons for this kind of variation are no more understood 

 than are those responsible for variance in color or shape 

 or durability. One yet sometimes hears the pleasant 

 fable that sweet-and-sour apples are produced by split- 

 ting the bud when the tree was propagated. 



The Surprise is a small whitish apple with light 

 red flesh. It is indeed a surprise to bite into such 

 an apple, but it has little merit. It is an early winter 

 variety. 



One is frequently asked about the Sheepnose apple, 

 particularly by older people who remember it from early 

 days and who deplore its infrequency in these latter 

 times. The sheepnose shape — long-conical — is an in- 

 frequent variation, as apples go, and apparently none of 

 these forms chances to have sufHcient merit to keep it in 

 the lists. The name is often applied to the Black Gilli- 

 flower, an old apple more than three inches long, dark 

 red, of light weight perhaps because of the large core, 

 ripening late in autumn to midwinter. It seems to be 

 specially prized by children, perhaps in part because of 

 its unusual shape and in part by its aromatic fragrance ; 

 but it is not a high-class apple, and is now little seen. 

 With the Rambo, Vandevere, some of the russets, Early 

 Harvest, Jersey Sweet and other old worthies, it probably 

 will pass away unless rescued here and there by the amateur. 

 To the lover of choice fruit nothing is old ; every succeed- 



