PLATE LXXI. 
A Nottinghamshire apple. Mr. Pearson, of Chilwell, writing in 1869, says, “ My father 
became so in love with the Bess Pool that he planted it largely. He used to tell how a girl named 
“ Bess Pool ” found in a wood the seedling tree full of ripe fruit; how, showing the apples in her 
father’s house (he kept the village Inn), the tree became known, and my grandfather procured 
grafts. He would then shew the seven first planted trees in one of our nurseries, and tell how 
Loudon had been to see them, and had given an account of them in the “ Gardener’s Magazine 
make his visitors try to clasp round their body, and measure the space covered by their branches, 
He would then boast how one season, when apples were very scarce, the fruit of these trees were 
sold at 7s. 6d. per peck, and made £jo —or an average of £10 a tree.” 
Description .—Fruit : above medium size, two inches and three quarters wide, and nearly 
three inches high, conical, and handsomely shaped. Skin : yellow, with a few markings of red on 
the shaded side ; but when exposed to the sun it is almost entirely marked and striped with 
fine clear red. Eye : small and partially open, set in a rather deep and plaited basin, which is 
surrounded with fine prominent knobs or ridges. Stalk: short and thick, inserted in a rather 
shallow cavity, with generally a fleshy protuberance on one side of it, and surrounded with yellowish 
brown russet, which extends over a considerable portion of the base. Flesh : white, tender, and 
juicy, with a fine sugary and vinous flavour. 
A handsome and excellent apple, either for culinary or dessert purposes, when others are 
gone by. It is in season from November to March, and well kept, will last almost until May. It 
sells well in the market. “ Before the duty on foreign apples was taken off,” says Mr. Pearson, 
“ it would fetch 5s. a peck, now (1869), I am selling it at is. the peck.” 
The tree grows freely and to a large size, but it is a very uncertain bearer until it is old. It 
blossoms very late, and the blossoms are not liable to be injured by frost, but they are so crowded 
in clusters, and the stalks are so slender and weak, that they are very liable to be attacked and 
destroyed by Aphis, or Honey dew. “ It is therefore,” says Mr. Pearson, “ anything but a 
profitable tree to plant.” 
