Plate III. 
5. BORSDORFFER. 
[Syn. : Borstorff Hdtive ; Queens Apple; Red Borsdorffer; Borsdorff; Postophe d’Hiver ; Pomme 
de pro chain ; Reinette dA llemayne ; Blanche de Leipsic ; Reinette de Misnie ; Grand Bohemian 
Borsdorffer; Garret Pippin ; King; King George ; King George the Third 7 \ 
This apple, above all others, is the most highly esteemed in Germany. Diel calls it the 
“ Pride of the Germans.” It is believed to have originated either at a village of Misnia, called 
Borsdorf, or at a place of the same name near Leipsic. According to Forsyth, it was such a 
favourite with Queen Charlotte, that she had a considerable quantity of them imported from Germany 
for her own private use. 
It is one of the earliest recorded varieties of the Continental authors. It is mentioned by 
Cordus in 1561, as being cultivated in Misnia. He also informs us it is highly esteemed for its 
sweet and generous flavour, and for the pleasant perfume which it exhales. Wittichius, in his 
“ Methodus Simplicmm? attributes to it the power of dispelling epidemic fevers and madness ! It 
does not seem to have been known in this country before the close of the last century. It was first 
grown in the Brompton Park Nursery in 1785. 
Description. —Fruit; below the medium size, roundish oblate, rather narrower at the apex 
than the base, handsomely and regularly formed, without ribs or other inequalities. Skin ; shining, 
pale waxen yellow in the shade, and bright red next the sun ; it is strewed with dots which are 
yellowish on the sunny side and brownish in the shade, and marked with veins and slight traces of 
delicate, yellowish gray russet. Eye ; large and open, with long reflexed segments, placed in a 
rather deep, round, and pretty even basin. Stalk ; short aud slender, inserted in a narrow, even, 
and shallow cavity, which is lined with thin russet. Flesh ; white with a yellowish tinge, crisp, and 
delicate, brisk, juicy, and sugary ; and with a rich, vinous, and aromatic flavour. 
The Borsdorffer is a dessert apple of the first quality ; in season from November to January. 
The tree is a free grower and very hardy, not subject to canker and attains the largest size. 
The bloom is also very hardy, and withstands the night frosts of spring better than most other 
varieties. It is very prolific. If grafted on the paradise stock it may be grown as an open dwarf, or 
an espalier. This variety in Herefordshire has not got beyond the garden of the amateur. 
