1884.] 
APPLE, lane’s prince. ALBERT. 
57 
APPLE, LANE’S PRINCE ALBERT. 
[Plate 608.] 
have already figured this valuable 
kitchen Apple in our volume for 
1875 (t. 406), but the fruit pro¬ 
duced during the propitious season 
of 1883 has so far exceeded in size and sur¬ 
passed in beauty of colouring the specimens 
formerly represented, and which were of the 
depressed or oblate form sometimes assumed 
by it, that we have thought it desirable in 
justice to the variety, which is a noble fruit 
and one possessing the highest degree of 
merit, to have another drawing of it made, 
from which the figure now issued has been 
taken. 
To the account formerly given we may add 
from the experience of the last few years— 
some of them rather disastrous ones for the 
Apple crop—that it is a prodigious bearer. 
Young plants in the nursery quarters six to 
eight feet high were to be seen—whole beds 
of them, not here and there a tree—covered 
with fine apples from base to apex, and larger 
bush trees, row after row, in a large orchard, 
were literally borne down by the weight of 
fruit. It is some of these which are repre¬ 
sented in our plate, which is by no means 
flattered, though of course such highly coloured 
samples only grow on the more exposed sunny 
parts of the trees. Mr. Fitch has made some 
attempt to show the clustered mode of bearing, 
but the space at his command was too limited 
to represent this feature so fully as we could 
have wished. The hardiness of the tree is 
another great point in its favour. We our¬ 
selves have seen in Mr. Lane’s exposed or¬ 
chard on the high ground west of the town of 
Great Berkliamsted, where Dumelow’s Seedling 
(Wellington), and some other popular sorts 
had been killed or badly crippled by the unpro- 
pitious seasons of 1878—80, that the trees of 
the Prince Albert, which is largely planted 
there, have stood uninjured, and have annually 
borne heavy crops, this season enormous crops. 
It should here be mentioned that there are two 
Apples in cultivation bearing the name of Prince 
Albert. Our plate and the foregoing remarks 
refer to that known as Lane’s Prince Albert, 
which was raised by Mr. John Edward Lane 
(now representing the firm of H. Lane & Son), 
from Russet Nonpareil, fertilised by Dume¬ 
low’s Seedling. This Apple, we are told, re¬ 
ceived its name on the occasion of Her Majesty 
and Prince Albert visiting Great Berkhamsted. 
It is now some years since it was introduced 
to the notice of fruit-growers, but it has year 
by year gone on increasing in popularity, as 
it became better known, and the trees have 
become more fully established. 
Of its high quality as a cooking Apple, even 
so late as the middle of March, we can speak 
with confidence, having lully tested it. Though 
without the aroma looked for in a dessert fruit, 
it is at that season very pleasant eating, even 
when uncooked, but when properly cooked it 
is excellent—quite first-rate in quality, and to 
our taste far superior to that of its acid parent, 
though itself not wanting in a pleasant sharp¬ 
ness combined with an agreeable apple flavour, 
which is very refreshing to the palate. 
The fruit is of large size and heavy weight, 
some of the specimens which passed through 
our hands a few days ago weighing 9.^ ozs. 
They are sometimes conical or ovate, with 
broad ribs around the crown, sometimes more 
depressed, inclining to oblate, and then gener¬ 
ally less angular in the upper part. The skin 
is smooth, at the gathering season bright 
green, afterwards pale yellow, more or less, 
and sometimes heavily tinted with rich deep 
crimson on the exposed sunny side, often also 
streaked and blotched with deeper crimson on 
the flushed side, the streaky character being 
more apparent on the paler fruit. The eye 
is rather small, closed, set in a deep more or 
less angular basin, the calyx segments close, 
erect, with the tips recurved. The short 
stoutish stalk is set in a small deep roundish 
cavity. The flesh is crisp and juicy, agreeably 
flavoured, with a brisk but not excessive 
acidity, when cooked becoming tender, and 
having a pleasant refreshing taste. It is ready 
for use in October, the season for gathering,^ 
and continues plump and good till the end of 
March, or later if well kept. 
No Apple deserves to be so largely planted, 
as with all the good qualities above mentioned, 
it is a prodigious bearer, both as a standard 
and as a bush tree. This is probably owing 
to the hardiness of the variety during the 
blooming period, in consequence of which the 
trees escape injury, or suffer but little from 
spring frosts. The proof of this lies in the 
fact that during the few late appleless years 
the trees at Berkhamsted have uniformly borne 
heavy crops.—T. Moore. 
