260 Account of the Mela Carta, Malcarle, or Charles Apple. 



A character of such a kind could not fail to excite much 

 curiosity, and a strong desire to procure the variety. Trees 

 were accordingly obtained from various quarters, by the So- 

 ciety, and planted in the orchard of the garden at Chiswick. 

 Some of these have borne fruit, and have been found to re- 

 semble the description of Gallesio in nothing except figure 

 and delicacy of flesh ; being destitute of colour, fragrance 

 and flavour. This having been found to agree very nearly 

 with specimens ripened in Ireland, by Mr. Robertson of 

 Kilkenny, and communicated to the Society in October 1824, 

 it appeared, either that the Italian account was extremely 

 exaggerated, or that the climate of Great Britain was unfa- 

 vourable to maturing the fruit. 



The first of these two points has been determined in the 

 course of the present winter, from specimens ripened in Italy 

 and sent to the Society from Turin, by the Right Honour- 

 able Augustus John Foster, His Majesty's Envoy Extra- 

 ordinary, and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Sar- 

 dinia. By these, the description of Gallesio was so perfectly 

 confirmed in every material circumstance, that it has been 

 considered proper to prepare the present statement, and to 

 illustrate it by a coloured figure of the fruit in the state in 

 which it was received from Italy. 



In form, the specimens from Mr. Foster, were nearly 

 round, a little inclining to ovate, with a very regular outline, 

 about the size of a Golden Reinette ; the eye was small and 

 destitute of angles, the stalk long, slender, nearly smooth, 

 and inserted in a small deep cavity. The skin was of a 

 delicate waxen texture, with no spots, except a very faint 

 mottling of green appearing through the skin near the eye, 



