An excellent culinary apple of first-rate quality, in use from November to March.
23. BELLE BONNE.—Lind.
- Identification.—[Lind. Guide], 63. [Hort. Soc. Cat.] ed. 3, n. 43.
- Synonymes.—Winter Belle boon, [Park. Par.] 587. Winter Belle and Bonne, [Raii Hist.] II. 1448. Winter Belle and Bon, [Worl. Vin.] 156. Rolland, Acc. [Lind. Guide].
Fruit, above medium size, three inches wide, and three and a quarter high; ovato-conical. Skin, thick, pale greenish yellow, and marked with a few redish streaks on the side next the sun. Eye, small and closed. Stalk, half-an-inch long, obliquely inserted under a fleshy lip. Flesh, firm, juicy, and well-flavored.
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 Ray. But it is not noticed by any subsequent author, or enumerated 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. He 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, therefore, 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.”
24. BELLEDGE PIPPIN.—Hort.
- Identification.—[Hort. Soc. Cat.] ed. 3, n. 49.
- Synonymes.—Belledge, [Lind. Guide], 36. Belledge Pippin, [Hort. Soc. Cat.] ed. 1, 65.
- Figure.—[Ron. Pyr. Mal.] pl. xvi., f. 4.
Fruit, below medium size, two inches and a half wide, and two inches high; roundish, narrowing a little towards the apex, regularly and handsomely formed. Skin, pale green, changing to yellow as it ripens, with a tinge of brown where exposed to the sun, and strewed with grey, russety dots. Eye, small, partially closed with short segments, and placed in a round, narrow, and rather shallow basin. Stalk, half-an-inch long, inserted in a round and deep cavity. Flesh, greenish yellow, tender, soft, brisk, sugary, and aromatic.
An excellent, but not first-rate apple, suitable either for the dessert or culinary purposes. It is in use from November to March.