Apple Index - "Smith's Cider to Stuart's Golden"

Smith’s Cider (Smith, Poplar Bluff, Popular Bluff, Fuller’s Cider, Fowler, Pennsylvania Cider, Choice Kentuck, Jackson Winesap, Smith’s, Oregon Spitzenburg, Buck’s County Cider, Smith’s Superb, Cider, Kentucky Choice)

Three Red Apples with Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit medium, larger when well grown, roundish conical; skin tough, smooth, mostly shaded and striped with pale red; dots few, large, distinct, gray. Flesh white or tinged yellowish, tender, breaking, juicy, crisp, mild subacid. Ripe October.

History: Despite its name, this is not exclusively a cider apple but is also good for cooking and fresh eating. As early as 1857 it was recommended that the word “cider” be dropped from its name because it gives a false impression.  Smith’s Cider supposedly originated in Bucks County, Pennsylvania around 1776.

Uses: Multipurpose, Does not keep well

Smith Seedling

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit medium, roundish, flattened on the ends. Skin mostly covered with brick red that is heavier on the sunny side, overlaid with a few, obscure, darker red stripes with some apples having russet veinings. Dots numerous, large, light colored, often with russet centers. Stem sometimes pinkish, medium length to long in a deep, narrow, usually russeted cavity. Calyx open; basin wide, almost shallow. Flesh yellowish, fine-grained, moderately juicy, moderately crisp, subacid. Ripe September/October and a good keeper.

History: Originated before the Civil War with the Smith family near Francisco in Stokes County, North Carolina. It was prized for cooking and preserves because it holds its shape.

Uses: Fresh Eating, Cooking, Stores well

 

Smokehouse® (Mill Creek, Red Vandevere, English Vandevere, Gibson’s Vandevere, Mill Creek Vandevere)

Two Red Apples and Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit above medium, oblate; skin greenish yellow shaded and striped with red; dots few, large, gray and russet. Flesh yellowish, firm, crisp, juicy, aromatic, subacid. Ripe August/September.

History: The original tree grew up beside the smokehouse on the farm of William Gibbons near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and was brought to public notice about 1836.

Uses: Fresh Eating, Cooking, Stores well

Snuff

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit small to medium size, roundish conical; skin mostly covered with bright or purplish red; dots few, large, gray with russet centers. Flesh firm, crisp, acid. Ripe October and a good keeper.

 

History: Miney Hensley, over eighty years old at the time, remembered Snuff apple trees at her homeplace and other nearby homes when she was young. Tom Brown found a tree there at the head of Fox Creek in Yancey County, North Carolina.

Uses: Cooking, Stores well

 

Sour June

Three Red Apples with Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit medium or below, roundish or slightly oblate; skin light green or pale yellow with a light red, grainy wash, and a few broken, red stripes on the sunny side; dots few, russet, some areole. Flesh slightly greenish, fine-grained, crisp, juicy, acid. Ripe July.

History: Sherry R. Everett of Pinetown, North Carolina, wrote to Lee Calhoun: “My mother-in-law moved here in 1933 and said that her neighbors had very large Sour June trees then. She remembers the trunks being very thick. That is as far back as I can trace them in our area. Most of the old folks have died who would know about Sour June.”

Uses: Cooking, Sauce

Sour Rusticoat

Two Russeted Apples

Description: Fruit usually below medium, roundish; skin greenish that turns yellow when riper, completely covered with russet; cavity narrow, acuminate, russeted; stem short; basin somewhat shallow and narrow with open calyx.  Ripens late September.

Uses: Cooking

Sparger

Two Red Apples and Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit medium or below, round or roundish oblate, often oblique; skin thick, light green, washed with dull red with purplish stripes and overlaid with gray scarfskin; dots numerous, large, white with russet centers. Flesh greenish or white, moderately juicy, firm, subacid. Ripe late September/October or even later and an excellent keeper.

History: The original tree grew up in the 1800s from a Limbertwig seed beside the smokehouse on the Murlin Sparger farm on Crossingham Road, five miles from Mount Airy, North Carolina. Sparger was sold from 1900 to 1915 by the J. Van Lindley Nursery in Greensboro and grown commercially in Surry County, North Carolina, and surrounding counties in North Carolina and Virginia until about 1940.

Uses: Cooking, Apple Butter, Sauce, Stores well

Spencer Seedless (Bloomless, Seedless, and Coreless)

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit small to sometimes medium, roundish oblate, oblique; skin greenish yellow with dull splashes of red and some russet; dots small, numerous, russet. Flesh yellowish, firm, juicy, sprightly subacid. Ripe late and a good keeper.

History: About 1900 a nursery was formed in Grand Junction, Colorado, called the Spencer Seedless Apple Company. It sold an apple advertised as “the world’s greatest discovery in horticulture.” Detective work by Charles Waters of Bingen, Washington, proved that this wonder apple was none other than the “Bloomless, Seedless, and Coreless” apple of Virginia origin.

Uses: Cooking, Stores well

 

Spotted Pippin

Two Yellow Apples

Description Fruit below medium, roundish, often slightly oblique; skin smooth, bright yellow, sometimes with a bronzing on the sunny side; dots prominent and often protruding slightly. Flesh juicy, crisp, subacid. Ripe August/September.

History: Ed Douglas of Bakersville, North Carolina, owns a tree of Spotted Pippin, an apple dating back to the early 1900s that Tom Brown found in 2000.

Springdale

Two Red Apples and Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit medium, roundish oblate; skin greenish yellow, mostly covered with dull red and indistinct darker red stripes, often has russet streaks and patches; dots numerous, russet. Flesh yellowish green, solid, fairly tender, subacid. Ripe winter.

History: An Arkansas apple sold by Stark Bro’s Nursery around 1900. According to several old catalogs, it succeeds well all over the South, even in the lower piedmont, and keeps exceptionally well.  Rediscovered by Tom Brown.

Uses: Cooking, Fresh Eating, Stores well

 

St. Clair

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit above medium, round, occasionally slightly oblate; skin smooth, pale yellowish, partly to mostly covered with bright red and broken red stripes, but less red near the stem end; dots few, small, gray, and submerged greenish. Flesh fine-grained, moderately crisp, juicy, subacid. Ripe mid to late July over several weeks.

History: In 1972 the Register of New Fruit & Nut Varieties (Brooks and Olmo) said of St. Clair: “Originated in St. Clair County, Illinois, by John J. Lizakowsky. Introduced in 1947. Parentage unknown: raised from the seed of an apple purchased from a train vendor in 1913 or 1914.

Uses: Fresh Eating

 

Starr (Early Greening)

Two Yellow Apples with Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit large to very large, oblate to roundish oblate; skin pale greenish yellow, sometimes faintly blushed in the sun; dots numerous, small and large, pale or russet. Flesh tinged yellow, moderately fine-grained, tender, crisp, very juicy, aromatic, sprightly subacid. Ripe late June/July in North Carolina and a good keeper for an early apple.

History: The tree originated before 1878 as an accidental seedling on the farm of John Starr of Woodburg, New Jersey.

Uses: Cooking, Stores well for Season

 

Stayman® (Stayman Winesap)

Two Red Apples and Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit medium to large, roundish to roundish oblong, conical, sometimes oblique; skin smooth, virtually covered with rose red and indistinct stripes of crimson, often lightly russeted; dots gray and russet, many areoles. Flesh yellowish, rather fine-grained, firm, breaking, juicy, sprightly subacid. Ripe October and a good keeper.

History: This apple originated with Dr. J. Stayman who planted some seeds of Winesap at Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1866. When the seedling trees were two years old, Dr. Stayman selected the best dozen young trees and moved them near his house. The tree now called Stayman bore its first fruit in 1875, and the other seedlings fruited soon thereafter.

Uses: Multipurpose, Stores well

Strawberry Rome

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit almost medium, roundish to slightly oblate. Skin yellow completely covered with stripes of red on sunny side; white dots numerous; cavity somewhat narrow and acuminate, often with russet spilling over top; stem somewhat thick, short to medium length; basin somewhat shallow and narrow with open calyx.  Ripens late October. Growth form is very weeping like most Limbertwigs.

Origin unknown. Found by Tom Brown of Clemmons, North Carolina.

 

Stribling (Red Harvest)

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit medium or above, oblate, slightly angular; skin greenish white, nearly covered with stripes and splashes of light and dark red, some splashes almost purple; dots conspicuous, yellow. Flesh white, tender, moderately juicy, mild subacid. Ripe July or early August.

History: Originated about 1840 with William Stribling of Medon, Madison County, Tennessee. Sold from 1870 to 1897 by Kentucky nurseries and around 1900 by Stark Bro’s Nursery, which used the name Red Harvest.

Uses: Fresh Eating

Striped Ben Davis

Two Red Apples

Description:  Fruit medium, roundish to slightly oblate; skin greenish completely covered with stripes of red and darker red; dots large, brown, very conspicuous; cavity, narrow, somewhat acuminate, often russeted, stem medium length; basin somewhat wide, shallow with open calyx.  Ripe September.

History:  Originated in North Carolina and likely a mutation of Ben Davis.

Striped June

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit small, round, slightly conical; skin smooth, greenish, mottled and striped with bright to purplish red; dots few, rather large, whitish; stem almost long in a shallow, cracked, and russeted cavity; calyx closed; basin shallow, corrugated; flesh fine-grained, soft, not very juicy, greenish, browns quickly, tart.  Ripens June. 

History: One of the more confusing apples as far as synonyms are concerned, with any red striped variety that is ripe in June being a candidate for this namesake.  There are at least five varieties with this synonym in Lee's book.  Origin unknown.

Uses: Cooking

Striped Sweeting

Two Red Apples

Origin unknown but sold from 1891 to 1896 by Atlanta Nurseries, Atlanta, Georgia: “Large; yellow, beautifully splashed with red; sweet, sprightly and good. August.”  Found by Tom Brown.

Uses: Cooking

Stuart’s Golden (Stewart’s Golden, Stump)

Two Red Apples and Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit above to below medium, roundish oblate, sometimes oblique; skin clear yellow, but deep orange in the sun, sometimes blushed; dots few, brown. Flesh whitish yellow, breaking, tender, juicy, aromatic, subacid. Ripe December-May.

History: Originated on the farm of William Stuart, Rush Creek, Ohio, where the tree grew up near a stump. Sold in 1891 by Stark Bro’s Nursery and from 1902 to 1904 by Harrison and Sons Nurseries of Berlin, Maryland.  Rediscovered by Tom Brown.

Uses: Fresh Eating, Cooking, Stores well