Ashmead's Kernel Ashmead's Kernel Ashmead's Kernel is a triploid cultivar of apple. Traditionally Ashmead's Kernel was thought to be diploid but a poor pollinator. Ashmead's Kernel is often reported as having been raised by Dr Ashmead in Gloucester, England in the 18th century. However Christine Leighton of the Gloucestershire Orchard Group suggests that the originator may have been William Ashmead, a lawyer who died in 1782. This dessert apple is of medium size, on average 83mm in diameter on vigorous rootstock and has a flat round shape. The base colour of the apple is greenish yellow, yet has a dull russet colour
John Ashmead wrote book reviews for "The Philadelphia Bulletin". Ashmead published on Bernard Malamud, Mark Twain, among several American authors. He died of lymphoma on February 7, 1992 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and was buried in Windsor, CT. Ashmead taught a group of students mainly at Haverford College who through his encouragement and guidance, went on to become published authors themselves, including Ashmead's student John Davison (composer) with whom he published a book about Robert Burns, Ashmead's student Claudine Monteil who published on Simone de Beauvoir and Ashmead's student Frank Conroy who Ashmead recommended to attend the Iowa Writers Workshop. Frank Conroy