Plate II. 
Although the name appears to indicate that this is originally a French Apple, it does not 
follow that it is so, and there is nothing to warrant such a conclusion. In the most searching inves¬ 
tigations that have been made, no mention of the name can be found even in records of the oldest 
French varieties, reaching back to the 13th and 14th centuries. It does not appear in the list of 
Olivier cle Serres in 1600, or of Lectier in 1628, nor can any trace be found of it from that period 
downwards in any French work, ancient or modern. The probability is that it is a true English 
Apple of great antiquity, and that its name was given at a time when Norman French was preva¬ 
lent in this country, for we find the name applied to other than apples, as for instance, that of a 
place in Devonshire called Stockleigh Pomeroy. 
The earliest record we have of the Pomeroy is in Leonard Meager’s list published in 1670, 
but it must have been in existence long before. Langford mentions it in 1681, and so does Ray in 
1686. The author of “ The Compleat Planter and Cyderist” (1690) says, “The Pome Roy hath a 
good taste, a pulpy substance, and not yielding much juice, yet that which is, is very good,” but these 
all agree in calling it a Winter Apple, and it may be our Winter Pomeroy. It is also named by Philips 
in his poem on “Cyder.” Coming to more modern times we find Rogers in 1837 speaking of the 
Pomeroy or “ Pomme Roi ” as a very good culinary apple, usable during October, November and 
December, and is much esteemed in the county of Sussex, to which locality it is probable it may 
have been received from the opposite coast of France.’’ But from the great lack of proper 
descriptive characters by all our early writers on fruits, it is impossible to identify with cer¬ 
tainty any of these varieties with the Pomeroy of which we now treat. 
Description. —Fruit; rather below medium size, short conical, or ovate, with ribs on the 
sides which become more prominent as they approach the eye, and around which they form 
ridges. Skin ; greenish yellow, marked with some traces of russet and streaks of red where shaded, 
but on the side exposed to the sun, it is covered with a large patch of dense cinnamon-coloured 
russet, and the whole surface is strewed with large russet dots. Eye ; set in a pretty deep and 
angular basin ; the segments are connivent and reflexed at the tips; the tube is short conical, and 
the stamens are inserted near the margin of the tube. Stalk; short, sometimes about half-an- 
inch in length, and deeply inserted nearly the whole of its length. Flesh; yellowish, tender, 
juicy, sweet and richly flavoured. The cells of the core are open and symmetrical. 
This is a dessert apple of great excellence, and with flesh remarkable for its delicacy of 
texture. It ripens in September and lasts only for a short time, as it begins to decay before the 
middle of October. 
