Fruit, below medium size; oblato-ovate, regularly and handsomely shaped. Skin, green, entirely covered with ashy grey russet, and strewed with greyish white freckles. Eye, small, and slightly closed, set in a round and even basin. Stalk, an inch long, slender, inserted in a rather shallow and angular cavity. Flesh, greenish, firm, crisp, and juicy, with a brisk, sugary, and aromatic flavor.
A dessert apple of the first quality, in use from December to February.
55. CALVILLE BLANCHE D’ÉTÉ.—Knoop.
- Identification.—[Knoop Pom.] 13. [Chart. Cat.] 56. [Diel Kernobst.] B. II. 7. [Hort. Soc. Cat.] ed. 3, n. 109.
- Synonymes.—White Calville, Acc. [Hort. Soc. Cat.] Calville Blanc, [Jard. Franç.] 106. Wahrer Weiszer Sommer Calville, [Diel Kernobst.] B. II. 7. Weisser Sommerkalwil, [Baum. Cat.] 1850.
- Figure.—[Knoop Pom.] t. 1.
Fruit, medium sized, about three inches broad, and two inches high; roundish and flattened at the ends, with prominent ribs on the sides, which extend to the eye and form ridges round the apex—the true character of the Calvilles. Skin, tender and delicate; when ripe, of a very pale straw color, and without the least tinge of red on the side exposed to the sun, but sometimes marked with a few traces of delicate russet, but no dots. Eye, large, and closed with long, broad, acuminate segments, and set in a pretty deep and very angular basin. Stalk, three quarters of an inch long, stout, inserted in a wide and rather shallow cavity, which is lined with thin russet. Flesh, white, tender, and delicate, with a sweet and pleasant flavor.
A very good early culinary apple, but not of the finest quality, being too soft and tender; it is ripe during August, and lasts till the middle of September.
The tree is a very strong and vigorous grower, with a large round head, and is an excellent bearer. It is distinguished by its very large foliage, the leaves being 4½ inches long by 3¼ broad.
This is an old continental variety, but has been very little noticed by writers on Pomology. It is mentioned in the Jardinier Français, of 1653, and by De Quintinye, but the first work in which it is either figured or described, is Knoop’s Pomologie. Duhamel does not notice it, although it is enumerated in the catalogue of the Chartreuse, from whose garden he received the materials for producing his work on fruits.