[D] Lib. ii. cap. 8.
[E] Duncumb’s History of Herefordshire, vol. 1, p. 187.
[F] Rudder’s History of Gloucestershire, App. liii., No. xxxv.
[G] Rudder’s History of Gloucestershire, App. xxvii., No. xix.
[H] Blomefield’s History of Norfolk, vol. xi., p. 242.
CLASSIFICATION OF APPLES.
A great desideratum in pomological science is, a system of classification for the apple, founded on characters which are at once permanent and well defined. The Germans have been most assiduous in endeavoring to attain this object, and many systems have been suggested, of which those of Manger, Sickler, Christ, and Diel, are most generally known. But it is to Diel that the greatest merit is due, for having produced a system, which, though far from perfect, is greatly in advance of any which had hitherto been produced; and which has been universally adopted by all the German pomologists. In 1847, my friend Dochnahl, an eminent and assiduous pomologist, published a system, based upon that of Diel, of which it is a modification, and which possesses such advantages over its type, as to be more easily reduced to practise.
As the systems of Diel and Dochnahl, are certainly the best which have yet appeared, I have introduced them here, for the benefit of those who may want a groundwork on which to form an arrangement.
DIEL’S CLASSIFICATION.
CLASS I. RIBBED APPLES.
1. They are furnished with very prominent, but regular ribs round the eye, extending also over the fruit, but which do not render the shape irregular.—2. Having wide, open, and very irregular cells.
ORDER I. TRUE CALVILLES.
1. They taper from about the middle of the fruit towards the eye.—2. They are covered with bloom when on the tree.—3. They have, or acquire by keeping, an unctuous skin.—4. They are not distinctly and purely striped.—5. They have light, spongy, delicate flesh.—6. They have a strawberry or raspberry flavor.
ORDER II. SCHLOTTERÄPFEL.
1. The skin does not feel unctuous.—2. They are not covered with bloom.—3. They are either of a flat, conical, cylindrical, or tapering form.—4. They have not a balsamic, but mostly a sweetish or sourish flavor.—5. They have a granulous, loose, and coarse-grained flesh.
ORDER III. GULDERLINGE.
1. They are not balsamic like Order I., but of an aromatic flavor.—2. They have a fine flesh, almost like that of the Reinettes.—3. They are either of a conical or flat shape.—4. They are most prominently ribbed round the eye.
CLASS II. ROSENÄPFEL.—ROSE APPLES.
1. They are covered with blue bloom when on the tree.—2. They have not unproportionally large, but often only regular cells.—3. They emit a pleasant odor when briskly rubbed.—4. The skin does not feel unctuous.—5. They are handsomely and regularly ribbed round the eye, and often also over the fruit.—6. They have a tender, loose, spongy, and mostly fine-grained flesh.—7. They have a fine rose, fennel, or anise flavor.—8. They are mostly of short duration, and are often only summer, or autumn apples.—9. They are mostly striped like a tulip.
ORDER I. FRUIT TAPERING OR OBLONG.
ORDER II. FRUIT ROUND OR FLAT.
CLASS III. RAMBOURS.
1. They are all large apples, and comprise the largest sorts.—2. They have mostly, or almost always, two unequal halves, namely one side lower than the other.—3. They are constantly furnished with ribs round the eye, which are broad, rising irregularly the one above the other, and extending over the fruit, so as to render it irregular in its shape; they are also compressed and have one side higher than the other.—4. They are constantly broader than high, and only sometimes elongated.—5. They have all a loose, coarse-grained, and often very pleasant flesh.
ORDER I. WITH WIDE CELLS.
ORDER II. WITH NARROW CELLS.
CLASS IV. REINETTES.
1. They have a fine-grained, delicate, crisp, firm, or tender flesh.—2. They are mostly the ideal of a handsome shaped apple; in them the convexity or bulge of the middle of the apple, towards the eye, is the same as that towards the stalk, or not much different.—3. They are all grey dotted, or have russety patches, or completely covered with russet.—4. They have only rarely an unctuous skin.—5. They have all the rich, aromatic, sugary, and brisk flavor, which is called the Reinette flavor—6. They decay very readily, and must, of all apples, hang longest on the tree.—7. The really sweet, and at the same time aromatic apples, belong to the Reinettes, only as regards their shape, their russety character, and their fine or firm flesh.—8. Apples with fine, firm, crisp flesh, which cannot of themselves form a separate class—for instance, the Pippins also belong to this class.
ORDER I. SELF COLORED REINETTES.
1. Having an uniform green ground color, which changes to the most beautiful golden yellow.—2. Having no lively colors or marks of russet on the side next the sun; except those that are very much exposed, and which assume a slight tinge of red.—3. Having no covering of russet, but only slight traces of russety stripes.
ORDER II. RED REINETTES.
Having all the properties of the self colored Reinettes, but of a pure red on the side next the sun, without any mixture of russet.
ORDER III. GREY REINETTES.
1. Their ground color is green, changing to dingy dull yellow.—2. The coating of russet, or the russety patches spread over the greater part of the fruit are very conspicious.—3. The side next the sun is often dull brownish, or ochreous red.
ORDER IV. GOLDEN REINETTES.
1. On the side next the sun they are washed, or striped with beautiful crimson.—2. The ground color changes by keeping to beautiful deep yellow.—3. Over the ground color, and the crimson of the exposed side, are spread light thin patches, or a complete coat of russet.
CLASS V. STREIFLINGE.—STRIPED APPLES.
1. They are all, and almost always, marked with broken stripes of red.—2. These stripes are found either over the whole fruit, or only very indistinctly on the side exposed to the sun.—3. The stripes may be distinct, that is to say, truly striped; or between these stripes on the side next the sun, the fruit is dotted, shaded, or washed with red; but on the shaded side the stripes are well defined.—4. The cells are regular.—5. They are of a purely sweet, vinous, or acid flavor.—6. They have not the same flavor as the Rosenäpfel.—7. They do not decay except when gathered before maturity, or after