Curtis Sweet
AppleCurtis Sweet
Origin / History
Introduced to notice by Joseph Curtis of St. Alban's, Vermont (Downing). Elliott reports the origin as unknown.
Tree
Vigorous, upright, productive, and hardy (Downing). No further tree characteristics — bark, twigs, lenticels, buds, leaves — are described in the sources.
Fruit
Size
Large.
Form
Sources differ on form: Downing describes the fruit as roundish, conical, and ribbed. Lowther describes it as round-conical. Elliott and Thomas describe it as oval and ribbed.
Stem
Not described in source.
Cavity
Not described in source.
Calyx
Small (Elliott).
Basin
Shallow (Elliott).
Skin
Pale yellow, sprinkled, marbled, and splashed with crimson, and thickly covered with crimson dots (Downing). Elliott describes the ground as yellow, sprinkled and marbled with crimson, with whitish gray dots. Thomas describes it as striped red on pale yellow. Lowther summarizes the color as yellow-red.
Flesh / Flavor
Flesh white, fine-grained, very tender, with a very pleasant sweet flavor (Downing). Elliott describes the flesh as white, tender, juicy, and esteemed. Thomas describes it as tender and pleasant. Quality rated "Good" (Downing; Lowther).
Core / Seeds
Core large. Seeds not described in source.
Season
August to October (Downing, Elliott, Thomas); early autumn (Lowther).
Uses
Primary use is kitchen (Lowther).
Subtypes / Variants
Not described in source.
Other
Lowther notes that no division reporting stations are recorded for this variety.
Book Sources
Described in 4 period pomological works
View original book sources (4)
— A.J. Downing, The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America (1900)Curtis Sweet. Introduced to notice by Joseph Curtis, St. Alban's, Vt. Tree vigorous, upright, productive, and hardy. Fruit large, roundish, conical, ribbed, pale yellow, sprinkled, marbled, and splashed with crimson, and thickly covered with crimson dots. Flesh white, fine-grained, very tender, with a very pleasant sweet flavor. Core large. Good. August to October.
— Granville Lowther (ed.), Encyclopedia of Practical Horticulture (1914)Curtis' Sweet is large in size, round-conical in form, and yellow-red in color. Quality is good. Primary use is kitchen. Season of ripening is early autumn. No division reporting stations are recorded.
— F.R. Elliott, The Western Fruit Book (1865)Curtis Sweet.
Origin, unknown. Fruit, large, oval, ribbed, yellow, sprinkled and marbled with crimson, whitish gray dots ; calyx, small ; basin, shallow ; flesh, white, tender, juicy, esteemed ; core, large. August to October.
— John J. Thomas, The American Fruit Culturist (1903)Curtis Sweet. Large, oval, ribbed, striped red on pale yellow; tender and pleasant. August to October.