British Pomology: Or, the History, Description, Classification, and Synonymes, of the Fruits and Fruit Trees of Great BritainHogg, Robert
History
British Pomology: Or, the History, Description, Classification, and Synonymes, of the Fruits and Fruit Trees of Great Britain
Hogg, Robert
Apples
FIGURES.--Pom. Heref. t. 2. Hook. Pom. Lond. Ron. Pyr. Mal. pl. xviii.
f. 5. Jard. Fruit, ed. 2, pl. 108.
[Illustration]
Fruit, small; roundish, inclining to oblong, regularly and handsomely
shaped, without inequalities or angles on the sides. Skin, rich yellow,
assuming a deep golden tinge when perfectly ripe, with a deeper tinge
where it has been exposed to the sun; the whole surface is strewed with
russety dots, which are largest on the sunny side, and intermixed with
these are numerous embedded pearly specks. Eye, small and open, with
long segments, placed in a shallow, smooth, and even basin. Stalk, from
half-an-inch to an inch in length, inserted in a pretty deep cavity.
Flesh, yellow, firm, crisp, very juicy and sugary, with a brisk,
vinous, and particularly fine flavor.
One of the oldest and by far the most highly esteemed of our dessert
apples, and neither the Borsdorffer of the Germans, the Reinette of
the French, nor the Newtown Pippin of the Americans, will ever occupy
in the estimation of the English the place now accorded to the Golden
Pippin. It is also an excellent cider apple. The specific gravity of
its juice is 1078.
It is in season from November to April.
The tree is a free and vigorous grower, but does not attain a great
size. It is also an excellent bearer.
When and where the Golden Pippin was first discovered, are now matters
of uncertainty; but all writers agree in ascribing to it an English
origin, some supposing it to have originated at Parham Park, near
Arundel, in Sussex. Although it is not recorded at so early a period
as some others, there is no doubt it is a very old variety. It is
not, however, the “Golding Pippin” of Parkinson, for he says “it is
the _greatest_ and best of all sorts of Pippins.” It was perhaps this
circumstance that led Mr. Knight to remark, that from the description
Parkinson has given of the apples cultivated in his time, it is evident
that those now known by the same names, are different, and probably
new varieties. But this is no evidence of such being the case, for I
find there were two sorts of Golden Pippin, the “Great Golding,” and
the “Small Golding, or Bayford,” both of which are mentioned by Leonard
Meager, and there is no doubt the “Golding Pippin,” of Parkinson, was
the “Great Golding.” Whether it was because it was little known, or its
qualities were unappreciated, that the writers of the 17th century were
so restrictive in their praises of the Golden Pippin, it is difficult
to say; but true it is whilst Pearmains, Red Streaks, Codlings, and
Catsheads, are set forth as the desiderata of an orchard, the Golden
Pippin is but rarely noticed. Ralph Austin calls it “a very speciall
apple and great bearer.” Evelyn certainly states that Lord Clarendon
cultivated it, but it was only as a cider apple: for he says “at
Lord Clarendon’s seat at Swallowfield, Berks, there is an orchard of
1000 Golden _and other cider_ Pippins.” In his Treatise on Cider he
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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