Apple Index - "N"

Nero

Watercolor plate

Description:  Fruit above medium, roundish, slightly conical; skin tough, glossy, greenish yellow, mostly covered with bright red overlaid with numerous, narrow, carmine stripes, dots small, whitish or russet; stem short to medium length and rather thick in an acute, medium-sized often russeted cavity; calyx usually closed; basin rather wide and sometimes gently furrowed.  Ripe September and a good keeper.

History:  Probably a seedling of Romanite that originated in Princeton New Jersey.  Adapted to the piedmont and mountains of the South.  Thought to be extinct until David Benscoter found remaining tree. 

Uses: Fresh Eating, Stores well

Nickajack (Summerour, Berry, Wall, Aberdeen, Ruckman’s Red, Red Horse, Jackson Red, Hubbard, Big Hill, Carolina Spice, Red Pippin, Howard, Cheataw, Pound, Accidental, Edward Shantee, Trenham, Cheatham Pippin, Winter Rose, Red Hazel, Wander)

Two Red Apples and Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit above medium to large, roundish or roundish oblate, slightly conical; skin greenish yellow shaded with red, usually described as dull red or brick-dust red, with indistinct darker stripes, a thin bloom gives a grayish appearance to the fruit; dots large, numerous, red and yellow. Flesh slightly yellowish, firm, juicy, briskly subacid. Ripe October.

History: In 1846 Silas McDowell, the great North Carolina pomologist, sent scions and fruit of this apple to his friend and fellow apple enthusiast Mr. Camack of Georgia. McDowell described it as a seedling that originated with the Cherokee Indians, near Nickajack Creek in Macon County, North Carolina.

Uses: Fresh Eating, Cooking, Stores well

 

North Carolina Keeper

Two Red Apples and Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit medium or below, roundish to oblate, conical; skin almost entirely covered with red with some indistinct darker red stripes; dots numerous, light-colored and russet. Flesh yellowish, crisp, juicy, subacid. Ripe September/October.

History: Sold by two North Carolina nurseries from 1886 to 1902. One catalog says: “A new variety introduced from Davidson County, North Carolina.”  Found by Tom Brown.

Uses: Fresh Eating, Stores well

 

No Bloom (Farthing's No Bloom)

Two Yellow Apples with Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit medium, very irregular in shape, lobed and sometimes barrel-shaped or pinched in around the middle of the apple; skin tough, smooth, bright yellow with a faint red blush, sometimes with russet spilling out of the cavity over the top of the apple; dots few, large, prominent, dark russet, some submerged. Flesh pale yellow, dry, fine-grained, sweet. Ripe September.

History: Originated with H. H. Farthing of Hattie, North Carolina, and sold by the J. Van Lindley Nursery of Greensboro from 1899 to 1902. In 2000 Tom Brown found a “No Bloom” tree near Wilkesboro, North Carolina, which produces flowers without petals, thus appearing to be without blossoms.

Northern Spy® (Northern Spice, Spy, Adair Red, King Apple)

Two Red Apples and Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit large, roundish, sometimes oblong, flattened at the stem end, conical, often ribbed; skin thin, smooth, mostly greenish or yellowish in the shade but fruit exposed to the sun is nearly covered with light and dark red stripes, often overspread with a thin white bloom. Flesh yellowish, rather fine-grained, tender, juicy, crisp, aromatic, spicy subacid. Ripe October and an excellent keeper.

History: Northern Spy originated from seeds planted about 1800 in East Bloomfield, New York, in the same seedling orchard of Heman Chapin that produced the Early Joe and Melon apples. The value of this variety became apparent about 1840, and within a few years it was being sold by nurseries all over the United States.

Uses: Multipurpose, Stores well