A FAMOUS APPLE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 29, 16 March 1942, Page 5

A FAMOUS APPLE

STORY OF THE STURMER'

A TREE —AND HOW IT SPREAD*

Nearly one hundred years ago (it* February, 1845), the following notice was published in Maund's Botanic Garden and Frutist:

"So valuable an apple as is the Stunner Pippin should be in every garden. Its property of keeping good: until August, retaining, till so late a period, its brisk flavour, both for dessert and kitchen use, and being, one of the very best of bearers, may be alone for it ample recommendation." This apple was introduced to public notice some years ago by the Messrs S. and J. Dillistone, of the Sturmer Nurseries, in the county of Essex, who have obligingly supplied! us with the history of the tree which: has so deservedly received their attention. The father, it appears, resided at the Rector}*- house at Sturmer about the year 1800, and observing a fine apple of the Ribston Pippin hanging on a branch amongst those of ait old Nonpareil, he conceived that the flowers might possibly have been innoculated, as it Avas then usually termed, by the bees. He gathered the fruit, planted its seeds, and on© tree from them grew to perfection, continuing in the same spot% in which he sowed it in the Garden, where it noAV stands, a heal-* thy, handsome, far-spreading tree. Old Mir Dillistone never forgot his seedling tree, but often, as it. spread wide its branches and flourished in the situation which he had given it, he would visit it with that paternal regard which none can comprehend that have not seen the prosperity of a son or raised such a tree by their own individual diligence. Prior to his, death, having seen its superiority, he raised from it many dwarf standards, and lived to enjoy the fruits of his labours; but, say his sons, "He left it for us to reap the harvest from them, for by planting the dwarfs in a heavy clay, thinning and regulating the branches, and afterwards by deep digging and chopping off the large roots, we have, in the three last seasons, gathered, with, the assistance of a six-foot ladder only, three hundred and twenty bushels of fine fruit. Their number of trees is about sixty, planted nine feet apart on each side of a four-feet walk, some of them being very small, from their having been the refuse of the nursery.

... I understand an uncle of mine, who sailed for Australia during the forties of last century, took with him scions, inserted in potatoes to preserve' them during the long voyage—in those days three or four months. . . .That, fine harvests of this apple Avere grown one hundred years ago is testified to by my forbears. The Sturmer Nurseries, now over two hundred years old, were extended to land at a higher altitude in those days, so were naturally better drained, and more exposed to sunshine^ The present nurseries are in the valley of the River (Sturmer is a corruption of Stout meer), so the natural drainage is not so gcod, and while most apples do* well in seasons when we escape the spring frosts, I have found Sturmer Pippin has the fault of its parent, the Ribston Pippin, and is liable to canker in wet situations. . . .We keep it until June and do not gather the fruits until late in November. I do not think we get enough sun in the average seasons to bring out the full flavour of Sturmer Pippin. Everj r one knows the Sturmer apple, the greenish, golden or brownish apple that keeps so well and is on sale when most other varieties are off the market.