The tree is a strong and vigorous grower, attains a large size, and is a good bearer; but I have always found it subject to canker when grown on the paradise stock, and in soils which are moist and heavy.
I have not been able to ascertain the time when, or the place where this variety originated. It is first noticed by Forsyth in his Treatise on Fruit Trees, but is not enumerated in any of the nurserymen’s catalogues, either of the last, or the early part of the present, century. It was introduced to the Brompton Park Nursery, about the year 1820, and is now as extensively cultivated as most other leading varieties. In America, Downing says, “the fruit in this climate is one of the most magnificent of all apples, frequently measuring sixteen or eighteen inches in circumference.”
IDENTIFICATION.--Hort. Soc. Cat. ed. 3, n. 42. Lind. Guide, 63. Down. Fr. Amer. 107.
SYNONYME.--Cambridge Pippin, _Acc. Hort. Soc. Cat._
FIGURE.--Ron. Pyr. Mal. pl. xxviii. f. 2.
Fruit, large, three inches and a quarter wide, and three inches and a half high; roundish-ovate, inclining to oblong, with irregular and prominent angles on the sides, which extend to the apex, and form ridges round the eye. Skin, dark green at first, and changing, as it attains maturity, to pale greenish yellow on the shaded side; but tinged with orange on the side next the sun, and strewed with a few fawn-colored dots. Eye, open, set in a deep, narrow, and angular basin. Stalk, short, inserted in a deep cavity. Flesh, yellowish, tender, pleasantly sub-acid, and with a somewhat sugary flavor.
An excellent culinary apple of first-rate quality, in use from November to March.
IDENTIFICATION.--Lind. Guide, 63. Hort. Soc. Cat. ed. 3, n. 43.
SYNONYMES.--Winter Belle boon, _Park. Par._ 587. Winter Belle and Bonne, _Raii Hist._ II. 1448. Winter Belle and Bon, _Worl. Vin._ 156. Rolland, _Acc. Lind. Guide_.
Fruit, above medium size, three inches wide, and three and a quarter high; ovato-conical. Skin, thick, pale greenish yellow, and marked with a few redish streaks on the side next the sun. Eye, small and closed. Stalk, half-an-inch long, obliquely inserted under a fleshy lip. Flesh, firm, juicy, and well-flavored.
A valuable culinary apple, in use from October to January. The tree is very hardy, a strong, vigorous, and healthy grower, and a good bearer.