Early Joe

Fruit, below medium size, two inches and a quarter wide, and nearly an inch and three-quarters high; roundish, or sometimes quite oblate, slightly angular, particularly round the crown. Skin, smooth and shining, almost entirely covered with thin bright red, with darker clouds of the same colour next the sun; on the shaded side it is a rich clear waxen yellow, tinged with red. Eye, quite closed, with leaf-like segments, set in a flat puckered basin. Stalk, three-quarters of an inch long, inserted in a deep narrow cavity. Flesh, yellowish, very tender, juicy, with a delicate and pleasant flavour.

A pretty dessert apple; ripe in the end of August and beginning of September. In shape and size, as well as colour, it considerably resembles the Devonshire Quarrenden, but the colour is much paler and brighter than in that variety.

An American apple said to have been raised in Ontario County, New York; but some think it is a native of Connecticut.

Early Julyan (Early Julien; Fair Lady in Kent)

Fruit, of medium size, two inches and three-quarters wide, and two inches and a quarter high; roundish, slightly flattened, and prominently ribbed from the eye downwards to the base. Skin, smooth, pale yellow, with an orange tinge next the sun, strewed all over with minute dots and a few whitish specks. Eye, closed, with broad segments, and set in a deep, irregular, and angular basin. Stamens, marginal or median; tube, conical or funnel-shaped. Stalk, short, not extending beyond the base, and inserted in a deep and angular cavity. Flesh, yellowish white, crisp, very juicy, and with a brisk, pleasant, and balsamic flavour. Cells, open or closed, ovate, round or oblate.

An excellent early dessert or culinary apple, of first-rate quality; ripe in the second week of August. It might with propriety be called the Summer Hawthornden, as it equals that esteemed old variety in all its properties.

The tree is healthy and hardy, but not a large grower. It is, however, a good bearer, though not so much so as the Hawthornden, and is well adapted for growing as a dwarf.

Early Julien, or more properly Early Julyan, is so named from the fruit ripening in July before the change of the Calendar. It now ripens very early in August, and in 1877, in the Weald of Sussex, I gathered it on the 2nd of August. It is said to be of Scottish origin, but I cannot ascertain where or when it was first discovered. It is not mentioned by Gibson, nor is it in the catalogue of Leslie and Anderson, of Edinburgh, or any of the Scotch nurserymen of the last century. It was first introduced to the South by the late Mr. Hugh Ronalds, of Brentford.

Early Margaret. See Margaret.

Early Nonpareil (Hicks' Fancy; New Nonpareil; Staffs Nonpareil)

Fruit, small, roundish, narrowing towards the eye, where it is ribbed. Skin, greenish yellow, changing to deep yellow as it attains maturity, russety, and spotted with grey russet dots. Eye, closed or half open, set in a narrow and ribbed basin. Stamens, marginal; tube, conical or funnel-shaped. Stalk, half an inch to three-quarters long, set in a narrow round cavity. Flesh, yellowish white, crisp, juicy, brisk, and aromatic. Cells, obovate; axile.

This is a very nice tender-fleshed dessert apple, and very juicy; in use from October to December.

This was called Hicks' Fancy by Kirke, the nurseryman at Brompton, who altered the name of an old variety for no other reason than that a friend of his, who was keeper of the Guildhall, of London, preferred it to any other apple. This Kirke told me himself.