BETTY GEESON
AppleBETTY GEESON
Origin/History
BETTY GEESON is said by Hogg to be a Worcestershire variety. It was introduced to notice about 1854. A plant introduction accession (PI No. 141234) was received from England in 1941, and is held at the U.S. Plant Introduction Station, Glenn Dale, Maryland (reporting station: MdG), as recorded in a 1963 USDA ARS survey of apple clones in the United States. BETTY GEESON is noted as a useful late culinary variety, now superseded by Bramley's Seedling and Newton Wonder.
Tree
Growth vigorous, slightly spreading, and compact; fertile. Leaf very broad, very coarsely serrate, dark, held flat but slightly undulating.
Fruit
Size and Form
Medium in size, approximately 2¾ inches in diameter by 2 inches in height. Shape flat, fairly regular.
Skin
Color pea green to deep yellow. Surface greasy in texture.
Stem
Rather slender and short, set in a very wide and deep cavity.
Cavity
Very wide and deep.
Calyx
Eye large and open.
Basin
Unusually wide and deep.
Flesh and Flavor
Flesh firm, greenish-white, sub-acid, and juicy.
Core and Seeds
Not described in source.
Season
Culinary use through March.
Uses
Culinary.
Subtypes/Variants
Not described in source.
Other
PI No. 141234 (USDA ARS plant introduction accession).
Book Sources
Described in 2 period pomological works
Nursery Catalog Sources
Found in 4 catalogs (1900–1913) from England, Illinois
- Central Experimental Farm , Dominion Department of Agriculture, Agassiz, British Columbia (under test; Bulletin No. 3, Second Series) — 1900
- Benjamin Buckman (personal inventory) , Farmingdale , Illinois — 1901
- James Veitch & Sons , Ltd., Royal Exotic Nursery, Chelsea, London (also Coombe Wood, Langley, and Feltham) , England — 1911
- Benjamin Buckman (personal inventory) , Farmingdale , Illinois — 1913
View original book sources (2)
— E.A. Bunyard, A Handbook of Hardy Fruits (1920)BETTY GEESON. Culinary, till March, medium, 2¾ by 2, flat, fairly regular. Colour, pea green to deep yellow, greasy. Flesh, firm, greenish-white, sub-acid, juicy. Eye, large, open in an unusually wide and deep basin. Stem, rather slender and short in a very wide and deep cavity. Growth, vigorous, slightly spreading, compact; fertile. Leaf, very broad, very coarsely serrate, dark, held flat but slightly undulating. Origin, said by Hogg to be a Worcestershire variety. Introduced to notice about 1854. A useful late variety now superseded by Bramley's Seedling and Newton Wonder.
— H.H. Fisher (USDA ARS), A Survey of Apple Clones in the United States (1963)Betty Geeson. PI No. 141234. Received from England in 1941. Reporting Station: MdG (U.S. Plant Introduction Station, Glenn Dale, Maryland).