1883 .] 
AMERICAN MOTHER APPLE.-PALMS IN SMALL POTS. 
121 
■will require top-dressing annually; they will 
also require to be watered occasionally with 
liquid manure. My neighbour, Mr. Jones, 
of Ribston Hall, grows a number of plants 
up the rafters of the conservatory there, and 
during the summer months the sight is truly 
beautiful. The profusion of flowers is some¬ 
thing wonderful, and their gracefully drooping 
habit is seen to advantage. When the plants 
have done flowering in the autumn they should 
be pruned, and this will allow the admission 
of more lightlto the other occupants of the con¬ 
servatory. The plants are easily increased by 
cuttings, and will thrive in the compost above 
recommended. — M. Saul, The Gardens, 
Stourton Castle, Yorkshire. 
AMERICAN MOTHER APPLE. 
[Plate 592.] 
f F American origin, and one of the few 
American Apples that ripen well in 
this country. It is a dessert Apple, 
and as our figure shows, one of the 
handsomest of autumn-ripening sorts, being in 
use during October, or according to Scott, 
from October till February. There are other 
varieties bearing the name of Mother Apple, 
in consequence of which Dr. Hogg observes, 
“I have distinguished this as the American 
Mother Apple.” The synonyms of Queen 
Anne, and the Gardener’s Apple are attri¬ 
buted to it. 
The following is the description given in the 
Fruit Manual :—“ Fruit above medium size, 
conical, uneven, and undulating on the sur¬ 
face and generally higher on one side of the 
crown than the other. Skin golden yellow 
covered with patches and streaks of crimson 
on the side next the sun, and strewed with 
russet dots. Eye small, closed, and tapering, 
set in an open basin. Stalk half an inch long, 
very slender, inserted in a deep cavity. Flesh 
yellowish-wite ; remarkably tender, crisp, and 
breaking, very juicy, sweet, and with a bal¬ 
samic aroma.” 
Our drawing was made in the autumn of 
1882, from some well-grown specimens fur¬ 
nished by Mr. Alexander Dean, of Bedfont, 
who has kindly supplied the following com¬ 
ments :— u It is unfortunate that an Apple of 
such undoubted high quality and excellent 
flavour should be such a shy bearer, and 
therefore only grown by those who, having 
little care for the mere pecuniary aspect of 
Apple culture, are satisfied to get fruit of the 
best quality, even though not quite so freely 
produced as are Codlins or Wellingtons. The 
American Mother Apple is produced on a tree 
of robust habit, though the wood is short- 
jointed and stout. The reasons for wayward 
fruitfulness are doubtless to be sought in the 
comparative unsuitability of American sorts of 
Apples for our somewhat ungenial clime, one 
other kind, perhaps less known than the one 
under notice, the Northern Spy, proving to 
be peculiarly tender and shy. 
‘ ‘ The fruits of the Mother Apple are rather 
above medium size, and usually show more of 
angularity than do the specimens which fur¬ 
nished the artist with material for his plate ; 
but the coloration is faithful, as the skin, which 
is of a rich yellow, is in the sun heavily 
coloured with streaks and mottlings of deep 
red. The stalk is short and slender and the 
eye small and closed. The flesh is of creamy 
white hue, and is of that peculiar flavour not 
unfrequently called balsamic, and which sig¬ 
nifies a very pleasant taste. It is an early 
Apple, being ripe in October. While so 
much stress is being laid on the production of 
big free cropping kinds that are needed 
chiefly to fill the market bushel, it would be 
well if some practical pomological hybridist 
would employ the American Mother Apple as 
a breeding parent upon some prolific sort, so 
that we may get perchance a race of kinds 
that are both of delicious quality and abun¬ 
dant bearers.”—T. Moore. 
PALMS IN SMALL POTS. 
HE fact that Palms may be successfully 
grown in comparatively small pots is 
perhaps not so completely recognised 
as it ought to be amongst cultivators. 
It is, however, a matter of very great im¬ 
portance, as when the plants are in pots of 
limited size they can be used in many positions 
for which large pots would at once unfit them. 
They, moreover, in most cases do well with their 
roots somewhat confined, and are more apt to 
perish from a depression of temperature if 
their roots are in a mass of crude earth. A 
case strongly illustrative of this has been 
recently noted in Russia. In the Imperial 
Taurian Gardens at St. Petersburg, which 
are under the direction of Mr. Siessmeyer, 
