227. MERE DE MENAGE.—Hort.
- Identification.—[Hort. Soc. Cat.] ed. 3, n. 436.
Fruit, very large; conical. Skin, red, streaked with darker red all over, except a little on the shaded side where it is yellow. Eye, set in an angular basin. Stalk, very stout, inserted in a deep cavity, so much so as to be scarcely visible. Flesh, firm, crisp, brisk and juicy.
A valuable and very beautiful culinary apple of first-rate quality; in use from October to January.
228. MINCHALL CRAB.—Fors.
- Identification.—[Fors. Treat.] 115. [Hort. Soc. Cat.] ed. 3, n. 440. [Lind. Guide], 54. [Rog. Fr. Cult.] 58.
- Synonymes.—Minshul Crab, [Hort. Soc. Cat.] ed. 1. 609. Mincham’s Crab, [Brook. Pom. Brit.] Lancashire Crab, Ibid. 536. Lancaster Crab, Ibid. 539.
- Figures.—[Brook. Pom. Brit.] pl. xciii. f. 2. [Ron. Pyr. Mal.] pl. xxxiii. f. 4.
Fruit, above medium size, three inches wide, and two inches and a half high; roundish, and considerably flattened, almost oblate. Skin, yellow, covered with dark dots, and a few veins of russet; russety over the base, and marked with a few broken stripes and mottles of pale crimson on the side next the sun. Eye, large and open, with short, and ragged segments, set in a wide, shallow, and plaited basin. Stalk, half-an-inch long, inserted in a rather shallow cavity. Flesh, white, firm, crisp, and juicy, with a rough, and sharp acid flavor.
A culinary apple, but only of second-rate quality; it is in use from November to March.
The tree is very hardy, and is not subject to canker, or the attacks of insects. It is an abundant bearer.
This apple is extensively grown in the southern parts of Lancashire, and is a great favorite in the Manchester market, and all the other manufacturing towns of that district. It receives its name from the village of Minchall in Cheshire, where, according to Rogers, the original tree existed in 1777.