PRINCE ALBERT.

REFERENCES. 1. Hogg, 1884:128. 2. Bunyard, Jour. Roy. Hort. Soc., 1898: 356, 359. 3. Can. Hort., 12:10. 1889. 4. Garden, 64:322. 1903. fig. 5. Ragan, U. S. B. P. I. Bul., 56:172. 1905.

SYNONYMS. LANE ALBERT (5). LANE'S PRINCE ALBERT (1, 2, 3). Lane Prince Albert (5). PRINCE ALBERT (LANE) (2).

Fruit large, grass-green eventually becoming yellowish with part of the exposed cheek covered with a thin blush and splashed with bright carmine. The general appearance is rather attractive for a green apple. It is too briskly subacid in flavor for a dessert apple but is valued for culinary uses. So far as tested at this Station the tree sustains the reputation which it has gained in England of coming into bearing young and being a reliable cropper and very productive (1, 4). Its season has not been proved here but it evidently extends from midautumn to midwinter. Hogg gives its season as December to March. Further testing is required to determine whether it is a desirable variety for this region.

This variety is found in common cultivation in some parts of England and it is there usually called the Lane Prince Albert (4). Bunyard lists it first as Prince Albert (Lane) and afterwards as Lane Prince Albert (2). Ragan has abbreviated the name to Lane Albert (5). We prefer to follow Bunyard in calling it Prince Albert as that appears to approach more closely to the name by which it is commonly known in England.

Sharpe lists a Prince Albert of Prussia which is distinct from Prince Albert.¹

Historical. Introduced by H. Lane & Son, Berkhampstead, England, and exhibited by them at a meeting of the British Pomological Society, October 26, 1857 (1, 4). The original tree was still in existence in a Berkhampstead garden in 1903 (4). In 1881 Prince Albert received a first-class certificate from the Royal Horticultural Society (2). In an article on "Progress in Fruit Culture in Queen Victoria's Reign 1837-1897," Bunyard presents a list of fruits introduced into cultivation in England in the last sixty years likely to prove permanent additions which includes but ten varieties of apples and one of them is Prince Albert (2). This variety is but little known as yet in America.

TREE. Tree very vigorous. Form spreading, rather dense. Twigs stocky, moderately long. Bark dark greenish-brown. Lenticels numerous, roundish, medium in size, conspicuous. Buds large, plump, obtuse, pubescent. Leaves large, broad; foliage dense.

FRUIT. Fruit pretty uniformly large, sometimes very large. Form roundish somewhat flattened at the base and inclined to conic with broad obtuse ribs toward the basin, somewhat irregular. Stem medium to short, moderately thick. Cavity acute, varying from slightly obtuse to slightly acuminate, medium in depth or sometimes deep, rather broad, somewhat furrowed, frequently compressed, sometimes faintly russeted. Calyx below medium to above, closed or slightly open; lobes rather short and wide, inclined to acute. Basin usually below medium in size, often oblique, medium in depth to rather deep, rather narrow to medium in width, abrupt, irregular, deeply furrowed and wrinkled. Skin smooth, moderately thick, tough, grass-green becoming yellowish with part of the exposed cheek shaded with red and striped with carmine, mottled and streaked with scarf-skin. Dots small, often submerged, whitish or sometimes with russet point, numerous toward the basin, larger and more scattering toward the cavity. Calyx tube rather short, moderately wide, cone-shape or approaching funnel-shape. Stamens median to basal. Core large to very large, abaxile; cells usually symmetrical, open or sometimes closed; core lines meeting or slightly clasping. Carpels elongated or broadly roundish, obtusely emarginate, often tufted. Seeds numerous, medium or above, moderately narrow to rather wide, obtuse to acute, rather dark. Flesh tinged with yellow or green, firm, moderately fine, crisp, tender, very juicy, briskly subacid or sour; suitable for culinary uses but has too much acidity for a good dessert apple.

¹Can. Dept. Agr. Rpt., 1900:437 and letter, 1905.

— S.A. Beach, The Apples of New York, Vol. 1 (1905)

LANE'S PRINCE ALBERT. Her. Pom. 52. G., Prinz Albert. (Prince Albert, Lane's.) Culinary, January to March, large, 3½ by 3, round conical. Colour, yellowish-green with distinct red stripes and slight pinkish flush. Skin, remarkably smooth. Flesh, tender, greenish-white, acid. Eye, generally closed in a deep wide slightly ribbed basin. Stem, short in a wide deep, russet free cavity. Growth, dwarf, spreading; very fertile. Leaf, rather large, pale, lax, nearly flat, very coarsely serrate. Origin, found in a garden at Berkhampstead, and introduced by Messrs. Lane, of that town in 1857. Perhaps the most reliable cropper of all cooking apples.

— E.A. Bunyard, A Handbook of Hardy Fruits (1920)

Large, extremely handsome striped fruit, very prolific; most desirable for garden culture, keeping sound for six months; its fertility is remarkable; not suitable for orchard culture, as the weight of crop brings it into the reach of cattle; highly recommended for market and plantation work, and indispensable for cultivation in small villa gardens, while Cordons or Pyramids, on the Paradise stock, produce grand exhibition fruit. F.C., R.H.S.

— George Bunyard & Co., George Bunyard Fruit Catalogue (1901) (1901)

large and handsome, pale green striped and flushed with red, somewhat like Cellini but later, a variety which no garden should be without, it forms a medium-sized pyramid or standard ... Oct. to Mar.

— James Veitch & Sons, Veitch's Fruit Trees (1911) (1911)

Culinary; Nov.-March. Large, evenly shaped, grass-green changing pale yellow, sparsely striped and flushed; dwarf in growth and extremely fertile; quite indispensable for garden and market culture as bushes on account of its regularity in fruiting; not suitable for standards on account of its weeping habit. Found in a garden at Berkhampstead, and introduced by Messrs. Lane & Sons in 1857.

— George Bunyard & Co., George Bunyard Catalog of Fruit Trees (1914) (1914)