Fort Miami

Fort Miami

Origin and History: A seedling russet originating near Fort Miami, Ohio, in the Maumee River valley. It was brought to the notice of the Ohio State Horticultural Society by its Vice-President, J. Austin Scott, of Toledo. F.R. Elliott described it from notes taken in 1846, when he received specimens from A. Spafford, Esq., of Perrysburg, Ohio. Warder classified it among the conical, angular, sour russet apples.

Tree: Upright and spreading, healthy, thrifty, and productive when mature, but not an early bearer. Shoots dark (Warder).

Fruit: Medium in size. Form roundish oblong-conic, truncated; angular and often unequal (Warder). Skin a yellow russet — Warder describes it as rich yellow russet, often bronzed, with scattered dots of netted russeting; Downing describes it as pale yellow with a brownish tinge, considerably russeted in the sun.

Stem: Warder describes the stem as medium; Downing describes it as rather short.

Cavity: Acute. Warder describes it as wavy with green coloring; Downing describes it as medium and deep.

Calyx: Warder describes the eye as small and closed; Downing describes the calyx as open.

Basin: Warder describes it as medium or shallow and folded; Downing describes it as abrupt and corrugated.

Core and Seeds: Core oval, clasping the eye, regular, closed. Seeds often imperfect (Warder).

Flesh and Flavor: Flesh greenish-yellow (Warder) to yellowish (Downing), firm (Warder), fine-grained, crisp, and juicy (Downing). Flavor described as acid and rich by Warder; Downing calls it rather rich subacid and aromatic. Quality rated nearly best by Warder; very good by Downing.

Season: February to April (Warder); March to May (Downing). A late winter to spring apple.

Use: Dessert (Warder).