Beauty Of Waltham

Fruit, medium sized, of a slight Pearmain shape, flattened at both ends; large, being somewhat angular. Skin, greenish yellow, streaked and flushed with crimson on the side next the sun. Eye, large, open, deeply set. Stalk, very long and slender, deeply set in a very regularly formed cavity.

Flesh, soft, yellowish, sweet, and pleasant, but somewhat wanting in juiciness. A very pretty apple for dessert use in September and October.

This was raised by Mr. William Paul, of Waltham Cross, and exhibited by him at the Royal Horticultural Society in 1868.

Bedfordshire Foundling (Cambridge Pippin)

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 side, 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-coloured dots. Eye, open, set in a deep, narrow, and angular basin. Stamens, basal; tube, conical. Stalk, short, inserted in a deep cavity. Flesh, yellowish, tender, pleasantly sub-acid, and with a somewhat sugary flavour. Cells, obovate; abaxile.

An excellent culinary apple of first-rate quality; in use from November to March.

Bedfordshire Twin

This is a true twin fruit, being two apples on one stalk, and so closely united at the base and on one side as to form one apple with two perfectly distinct eyes. The section is three inches and a quarter long, by two inches and an eighth deep-Skin, yellow, strewed with russet dots, and streaked with red. Eye, with erect half open segments set in a deep depression. Stamens, marginal; tube, short, conical. Stalk, very short, and quite imbedded in the cavity. Flesh, firm, pleasantly sub-acid, and with a good though not a rich flavour. Cells, axile, closed.

A very firm, solid, long-keeping apple, continuing in use till April.

This curious apple was sent me in 1877 by Mr. G. B. Clarke, a chemist and druggist, of Woburn, Bedfordshire. It is totally distinct from the Cluster Golden Pippin, which frequently produces the fruit in pairs, for almost invariably the Bedfordshire Twin is in this condition. Mr. Clarke informed me that he found this in the garden of Mr. Bowler, a butcher at Husborne Crawley, near Woburn, who about twenty years previously obtained the grafts from the orchard of a Mr. George, who lived at Bythorne, near Huntingdon.

The twin fruits vary considerably in the degree of the twin development. in some there is the mere suspicion of a swelling surmounted with a small " eye"; others have a small twin the size of a hazel nut attached to one four times its size,, while the perfect apple is in pairs of equal size.

Belle Bonne (Winter Belle Bonne; Bellyband; Holland)

Fruit, above medium size, from two and a half to three inches wide, and two and three-quarters to three and a quarter high; conical, even and regular in its outline; narrow at the crown. Skin, thick, smooth, with only a few traces and thin patches of russet network here and there, pale greenish yellow, and marked with a few reddish streaks on the side next the sun, and sometimes it has a brownish.

tinge on the exposed side near the stalk, which, when the fruit is ripe, becomes lively red. Eye, small and closed, with flat segments set in a narrow, plaited basin. Stamens, median; tube, funnel-shaped. Stalk, half an inch long, slender, and sometimes obliquely inserted under a fleshy lip. Flesh, white, firm, juicy, crisp, and well flavoured. Cells, roundish ovate; axile.

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.

This is a very old English variety. It was known to Parkinson so early as 1629, and also to Worlidge and Bay. But it is not noticed by any subsequent author, nor in any of the nursery catalogues of the last century, until discovered by George Lindley, growing in a garden at Gatton, near Norwich, and published by him in the Transactions of the London Horticultural Society, vol. iv., p. 58. seems to be uncertain whether it is the Summer or Winter Belle Bonne of these early authors, but Worlidge's description leaves no doubt as to its identity. He says, "The Summer Belle et Bonne is a good bearer, but the fruit is not long lasting. The Winter Belle and Bon is much to be preferred to the Summer in every respect." I have no doubt, therofore, that the latter is the Belle Bonne of Lindley. Parkinson says "they are both fair fruit to look on, being yellow, and of a meane (medium) bignesse."