BARRY.

REFERENCE. 1. Ellwanger & Barry, Rochester, N. Y., Catalogue, 1895.

Resembles the Greening type of apples in color and in the acidity of the flesh.

The Barry originated about 1880, in the nurseries of Ellwanger & Barry, Rochester, N. Y., and has been recently introduced by that firm after having been thoroughly tested by them. It has their recommendation as a novelty of sterling merit, and one which they believe will prove valuable for commercial orchards (1).

TREE.

Tree a good grower; well branched with long upright branches. Form upright, becoming spreading and somewhat open. Twigs curved and often crooked, long, medium, stout; internodes long. Bark rather light olive-green shading to reddish-brown and overlaid with thin gray scarf-skin; quite pubescent. Lenticels scattering, usually small, round, slightly raised. Buds large, broad, obtuse, appressed, pubescent. Leaves large or very large, broad.

FRUIT.

Fruit medium, sometimes large. Form roundish oblate to roundish conic, obscurely ribbed, somewhat irregular. Stem medium. Cavity acute, deep, rather broad, usually with some thin greenish russet, broadly furrowed. Calyx small to medium, closed; lobes acute. Basin abrupt, rather shallow to rather deep, narrow to moderately wide, with narrow furrows and wrinkled. Skin tough, smooth, clear pale yellow or greenish with faint shade of red on the exposed cheek. Dots numerous, minute, pale, submerged, and a few show a brown or russet point. Prevailing effect green or greenish yellow. Calyx tube medium size, conical or funnel-shaped. Stamens marginal. Core medium to rather large, abaxile, open; core lines clasping. Carpels elliptical, much concave, emarginate, tufted. Seeds numerous, medium, obtuse, medium to dark brown. Flesh firm, moderately fine to fine, crisp, tender, juicy, subacid, sprightly, good.

Season. Late.

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

Barry

Origin. Barry originated from the cross, McIntosh x Cox's Orange Pippin, made in 1923. The breeding record number was 2397, and the seedling number was Station 4111. It was selected in 1937 from a population of 33 seedlings. Before introduction, it was observed in a second test for 20 years, 1937-57. Barry was named in 1957 (Table 2) at the commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of the New York State Horticultural Society at its annual meeting held in Rochester. At that meeting, fruits of four outstanding apple selections were sliced and given to visitors at the exhibit. Each visitor was given a ballot and asked to vote for his preference. Station 4111 received the most votes and was named Barry. It was named for Patrick Barry, long-time president of the New York State Horticultural Society and one of the partners of the Elwanger and Barry Nursery of Rochester, a world famous firm late in the 19th century. The introductory description of Barry was published in Farm Research (118) and in Fruit Varieties and Horticultural Digest (119,128). Barry was briefly described in the Register of New Fruit and Nut Varieties (33). It was also briefly described by Brooks and Olmo (34). This Barry is not the same cultivar as the Barry described by Beach (19), by Ragan (181), and by Crowell (52), and which was sold by the Elwanger and Barry Nursery in 1895.

Tree. In Massachusetts, the principal identifying characters of 1-year nursery trees of Barry were described to aid in determining the trueness-to-name of new cultivars in the nursery row (232). The characteristics of mature Barry trees are summarized in Table 5, and 10 tree characteristics have been listed by Way (221). The mature Barry tree is large, vigorous, and upright spreading. The twigs are rather thin and willowy. The branch terminals are somewhat drooping, especially on heavily cropping trees. Trees are medium in productivity and are usually annually cropping, but sometimes tend to bear biennially (Table 5). Trees are slow to come into bearing, beginning to bear about their eighth year when budded on seedling roots (Table 5). The trunk is stocky. The trunk bark is gray and medium in smoothness. Barry blossoms in mid-season, along with Delicious (Table 6). It is diploid (Table 4), and the pollen is viable.

Fruit. Barry fruits are illustrated in Figure 2. The fruit characteristics are summarized in Table 8; 10 fruit characteristics have been listed by Way (221). The average ripening date at Geneva is September 23, 2½ weeks before Delicious (Table 7). The average number of days between full bloom and harvest is 128, 17 fewer than Delicious. The fruits hang well on the tree after they ripen. They are medium sized to large, mostly 2 3/4 inches in diameter and up to 3 inches. Fruits are oblate and rather symmetrical. The stem is medium in length; it is thick, much thicker at the point of attachment to the fruit than at its midpoint; the stem is sometimes fleshy. The cavity is shallow, sometimes almost level with the shoulders, wide, symmetrical, not furrowed, mostly smooth, but on 10 per cent of the fruits, the cavity is russeted. The basin is very shallow, wide, obtuse, slightly furrowed, and symmetrical. The calyx is closed and medium sized. The calyx lobes are medium in length, narrow, and acute.

The skin is medium in thickness, rather tough, smooth, and somewhat glossy. The skin color is 90 per cent very dark red to nearly black when fully ripened on the tree. Ten per cent of the surface is striped red. The dots are light brown, small, numerous, and conspicuous. The calyx tube is short, narrow, and funnel-shaped. The stamens are in the median position. The core is rather large and somewhat open, especially in fruits from young trees. The carpels are oval and not tufted. The seeds are numerous, medium sized, pointed, plump, and not tufted. The flesh is cream colored, sometimes tinged reddish, firm, medium in grain, crisp, tender, juicy, subacid, aromatic, sprightly, and very good in dessert quality. Barry is a dessert type but makes as good sauce as any cultivar of its season. The storage life of Barry fruits is rather short; when held at 31° F, they will keep approximately 50 days (Table 10). The shelf life after storage is poor. Overripeness reduces the storage life of Barry more than it will for most cultivars; Barry keeps best when harvested somewhat immature.

Commercial Usefulness. Trees of Barry were sold by the New York State Fruit Testing Association for 9 years, 1957-65 (Table 2). In the 1960-68 period, Barry trees were sold by two commercial nurseries (Table 3). In 1963, a survey of apple clones in the United States showed that Barry was then tested at experiment stations in Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington (79). In 1968 (184), it was tested at experiment stations in Arkansas, Minnesota, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Washington. Because the trees are not precocious, Barry is not recommended for planting. The very dark fruit color is appealing to many people, but it is too dark and unattractive to most apple connoisseurs.

— Roger D. Way, Apple Cultivars Introduced by the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, 1914–1968 (1971)