Manx Codlin

Origin / History

An old English culinary apple, long cultivated and esteemed both in England and abroad for its productiveness, hardiness of tree, and early bearing habit (Downing). Bunyard records that the variety was raised by Mr. Kewley of Ballanard, Isle of Man, and first fruited in 1815, and notes that it was still much grown in the North of England in his day and reckoned one of the best cooking apples there. Elliott classes it simply as "Foreign."

Tree

The tree is not large, but very hardy and healthy, well adapted for growing as a bush on the Paradise stock or as an espalier; it is well suited for planting in exposed situations and succeeds well in shallow soils. It is a very early and abundant bearer, often producing fruit when only two years old from the graft (Herefordshire Pomona). Bunyard characterises the growth as very compact and dwarfish, with great fertility. The Central Experimental Farm at Agassiz, BC (planted Spring 1896) likewise reports the tree as a vigorous grower and an early bearer.

Leaf: narrow-oval, broadly serrate (Bunyard).

Fruit

Size. Medium (Elliott, Herefordshire Pomona, Downing, Central Experimental Farm). Bunyard gives dimensions as 2½ by 2½ inches.

Form. Sources describe the form variously: roundish oblong (Elliott); conical, slightly angular (Herefordshire Pomona); roundish oblong conical, with one side of the apex end higher than the other (Downing); oval-conical, irregular, five-sided (Bunyard); oblate, obliquely conical (Central Experimental Farm).

Skin / Colour. Skin smooth (Herefordshire Pomona). Sources agree on a pale or greenish yellow ground with a sunny-side blush, but differ in the intensity and character of the blush:

• Elliott: pale yellow, with red cheek in the sun.
• Herefordshire Pomona: greenish yellow at first, changing as it ripens to clear pale yellow, tinged with rich orange on the side next the sun; sometimes, when fully exposed, assuming a clear bright red cheek.
• Downing: clear pale yellow, with a bronzed cheek in the sun.
• Bunyard: yellow-green with a slight red flush.
• Central Experimental Farm: clear light yellow, with a little blush at times.
• George Bunyard & Co. catalogue: pale greenish yellow, striped and spotted with red.

Stalk / Stem / Cavity. The Herefordshire Pomona describes the stalk as three quarters of an inch long, more or less fleshy, sometimes straight but generally obliquely inserted, and occasionally united to the fruit by a fleshy protuberance on one side of it. Bunyard describes the stem as rather stout, set in a fairly deep, wide cavity.

Eye / Calyx / Basin. Eye small and closed (Herefordshire Pomona, Bunyard). The basin is small, plaited, and pretty deep according to the Herefordshire Pomona; Bunyard describes it as ribbed.

Flesh / Flavour. Flesh yellowish white, firm, brisk, juicy, and slightly perfumed (Herefordshire Pomona); yellowish white, fine, crisp, brisk subacid, rated "Good" (Downing); firm, white, acid (Bunyard); white, crisp, juicy, pleasantly sub-acid, quality good (Central Experimental Farm).

Core / Seeds. Not described in source.

Season

Sources broadly place the season in late summer and autumn:

• Elliott: August.
• Herefordshire Pomona: ripe in the beginning of August and continues in use till November.
• Downing: August to November.
• Bunyard: August to November.
• Central Experimental Farm (Agassiz, BC): September and October.
• George Bunyard & Co. catalogue: Mar–Sept.

Uses

A culinary (cooking) apple. Elliott specifies "cooking only." The Herefordshire Pomona calls it "a very valuable early culinary apple of first-rate quality." Bunyard classes it as culinary and "one of the best cooking apples" of the North of England. The George Bunyard & Co. catalogue calls it "a very fine kitchen apple."

Subtypes / Variants

Not described in source.

Other

The Herefordshire Pomona figures the variety on Plate VI. Bunyard cites Ronalds, p. 3, and gives the French name as "Codlin de Mank" and the German as "Manck's Kuchenapfel."