Hawley
Apple
USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection
Origin & History
Originated on the farm of Mr. Matthew Hawley, New Canaan, Columbia County, New York, about 1750. Mr. Hawley had removed from Milford, Connecticut, and, as was usual with settlers of that time, took with him a lot of apple seeds, from which he raised and planted an orchard of seedling trees; the Hawley was one of these (Hovey). The farm afterwards passed into the hands of his son Daniel, and was in 1846 owned by Thomas Hawley, the son of Daniel. The original tree lived nearly a century (Beach) — by 1852 it had been dead about twenty years (Hovey).
For about forty years before its formal introduction, the variety had been well known and cultivated in the neighborhood of its locality, as well as by eminent orchardists in Onondaga and Cayuga counties (Hovey). It was introduced to wider notice by Gen. E.W. Leavenworth of Syracuse, New York. In the fall of 1846, he sent remarkably fine specimens of the fruit to C.M. Hovey, with an account of its origin. Scions had been obtained from the original tree by the uncles of Mr. Leavenworth, through whom he became acquainted with this apple and generally made known its excellence (Hovey). The variety gradually became disseminated throughout New York state, particularly in Columbia, Onondaga, Cayuga, Tompkins, Seneca, and Monroe counties. By 1905 it was rarely listed by nurserymen and seldom planted (Beach).
A very large apple of the Fall Pippin type in color, size, and form (Beach). Multiple sources note the resemblance: Hovey describes it as ripening just before the Fall Pippin, which it somewhat resembles in shape and general appearance; Elliott writes that it much resembles Fall Pippin but is larger and ripens earlier.
Tree
Vigorous in the orchard, medium in size to large, hardy, and rather long-lived (Beach). Forms a fine round and rather loose head (Hovey), described also as a round spreading head (Warder). Hovey describes the habit as upright, somewhat spreading, branching low, and forming a handsome head. Does not come into bearing very young (Beach). Bears annually (Downing); when mature it bears quite regularly but is usually a light or moderate cropper (Beach) — though Hovey states it bears abundant crops. Growth rate varies by report: Beach describes it as a moderate grower in the nursery but rather vigorous in the orchard; Thomas notes shoots of rather slow growth.
Wood (Hovey): Clear reddish chestnut, dotted with minute grayish specks, rather slender, short-jointed, and very downy at the ends; old wood light chestnut brown. Buds small, short, broad, and flattened. Warder describes shoots as stout and olive-colored, while Hovey describes annual shoots as rather slender — a notable disagreement.
Leaves (Hovey): Medium size, oblong-ovate, thin, with prominent nerves, downy beneath, wavy, and finely and very sharply serrated; petioles rather short, half an inch long, moderately stout.
Flowers (Hovey): Medium size; petals cupped.
Fruit
Size: Large or very large, pretty uniform in size and shape (Beach). Hovey gives dimensions of about three and a half inches broad and three inches deep, often measuring twelve inches in circumference.
Form: Roundish oblate conic (Downing), or more precisely nearly globular to somewhat oblate or slightly conic, sometimes inclined to elliptical, more or less distinctly ribbed (Beach). Regular (Warder). Hovey describes it as roundish, rather broad, flattened, somewhat ribbed at the base, and narrowing little towards the crown. Thomas gives roundish, slightly conical, sometimes nearly round, with a broad obtuse apex, and slightly flattened, smooth. Elliott describes it as roundish, flattened conical.
Stem: Variable in length — Warder notes short, medium, and long; Thomas gives one-half to one inch long; Hovey gives about three-quarters of an inch long, straight, rather slender. Beach describes it as medium in length, rather slender. Elliott notes slender. Downing says short.
Cavity: Wide and deep (Thomas, Beach, Hovey, Warder, Elliott). Acute to nearly obtuse (Beach; Thomas concurs — acute, sometimes slightly obtuse). With outspreading russet rays (Beach). Hovey describes it as deep, broad, and uneven. Warder notes it is sometimes folded.
Calyx: Small, nearly closed (Downing, Hovey). Beach gives a wider range: below medium to rather large, partly closed; lobes often separated at base, reflexed, wide, acute. Elliott describes it as small, partly closed.
Basin: Moderately deep to deep, medium to wide, very abrupt, often decidedly furrowed (Beach). Other sources generally agree on furrowing: Downing says moderate, somewhat furrowed; Elliott says medium, slightly plaited; Thomas says deep, slightly furrowed. Warder describes it as rather wide and wavy. Hovey describes it as small and slightly furrowed.
Skin: Fair, smooth, waxy, rather thin (Beach). Pale green, deepening to a rich lemon yellow when mature (Beach, Hovey, Thomas). The surface has a characteristically oily or waxen touch (Warder, Downing, Hovey, Beach). Warder notes it becomes oily or greasy when kept. Sometimes shows a faint brownish blush (Beach) or very faint orange cheek (Thomas); Warder says rarely shaded or blushed. Scattering russet dots and flecks, especially toward the cavity (Beach); Hovey describes small scattered russet specks; Downing says considerably dotted; Elliott notes few brown dots.
Calyx Tube (Beach): Large, wide, cone-shaped, yellow or brownish.
Flesh & Flavor: Yellowish-white to yellow-tinged, very tender, fine-grained, juicy, rich, mild subacid. Beach describes the flesh as tinged with yellow, soft, very tender, rather fine-grained, juicy, rich, mild subacid, very good especially for dessert. Hovey gives: yellow, fine, soft, and very tender; juice abundant, pleasantly acid, rich, brisk, high flavored, and excellent. Warder describes the flavor as very pleasant, mild sub-acid, rich. Thomas: mild, rich, sub-acid, fine flavor. Downing: whitish, very tender, juicy, rich, mild subacid.
Core & Seeds: Core regular, closed, scarcely clasping the eye (Warder). Beach gives core below medium to above; cells closed; core lines meeting; carpels rather flat, tufted, roundish, emarginate. Hovey describes core as large, nearly closed. Seeds few, obtuse; when well developed they are medium in size, but often some are abortive (Beach). Warder notes seeds generally imperfect. Hovey says seeds medium size, broad.
Season
September is the consensus start of ripening. Warder gives August to September; Downing says ripe in September; Beach gives September to November or later; Hovey says last of September, in eating through October; Elliott says October, sometimes in September; Thomas says mid-autumn. The fruit ripens just before the Fall Pippin (Hovey).
Uses
Desirable for the home orchard and of delicious dessert quality, but not well adapted for market because the tree is not very productive and the fruit often is scabby and sometimes water-cores and rots at the core (Beach). Warder calls it an amateur's fruit. Downing notes that as it soon decays, its value is thereby much depreciated. Elliott states it is invariably affected with dry rot in all soils. Thomas concurs that liability to dry rot and water-core has rendered it of little value.
Subtypes/Variants
Not described in source.
Other
Hovey summarizes the variety's merits: "It has a combination of excellent qualities: first, its large size, often measuring twelve inches in circumference; second, its uniform handsome shape, and freedom from specks or blemishes; third, its fine deep lemon yellow skin; fourth, its remarkably tender and high flavored flesh; and, lastly, its productiveness, vigorous growth, &c. All these properties are rarely possessed by a single kind, and hence its superiority over many others." When the color is fully developed it is a handsome yellow (Beach).
Book Sources
Described in 6 period pomological works
Nursery Catalog Sources
Found in 2 catalogs (1894–1904) from Illinois
- The Vineland Nurseries (Kelsey & Co. , Proprietors), St. Joseph, Missouri (Office: 13th and Atchison Sts., 2 Blocks East of the Citizens St. Car Line) — 1894
- Phoenix Nursery Company (W. E. Rossney , President; Sidney Tuttle, Vice-President), Bloomington , Illinois — 1904
View original book sources (6)
— John A. Warder, American Pomology: Apples (1867)Hawley.
Originated in Columbia County, New York. Tree vigorous, with a round spreading head; Shoots stout, olive. Fruit large, regular, oblate or slightly conic; Surface waxy yellow, rarely shaded or blushed, becomes oily or greasy when kept. Basin rather wide, wavy; Cavity wide, sometimes folded; Stem short, medium and long. Core regular, closed, scarcely clasping the eye; Seeds generally imperfect; Flesh yellowish-white, very tender, fine grained, juicy; Flavor very pleasant, mild sub-acid, rich; Season August to September; an amateur's fruit.
— A.J. Downing, The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America (1900)Hawley.
Origin, Columbia Co., N. Y. Tree vigorous, and bears annually.
Fruit large, roundish oblate conic. Skin fine yellow, somewhat waxen or oily, and considerably dotted. Stalk short, inserted in a rather deep cavity. Calyx small, nearly closed, in a moderate, somewhat furrowed basin. Flesh whitish, very tender, juicy, rich, mild subacid. Ripe September.
A fruit of very good quality, but as it soon decays, its value is thereby much depreciated.
— S.A. Beach, The Apples of New York, Vol. 2 (1905)HAWLEY.
REFERENCES. 1. Hovey, Mag. Hort., 13:112, 535. 1847. fig. 2. Cultivator, 4:114. 1847. fig. 3. Leavenworth, Horticulturist, 2:27. 1847. fig. 4. Cultivator, 5:246. 1848. 5. Cole, 1849:112. fig. 6. Thomas, 1849:156. fig. 7. Emmons, Nat. Hist. N. Y., 3:48. 1851. col. pl. No. 24, fig. 8. Hovey, 2:39. 1851. col. pl. and fig. 9. Barry, 1851:284. 10. Horticulturist, 7:484. 1852. 11. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat., 1852. 12. Mag. Hort., 19:68. 1853. 13. Elliott, 1854:137. 14. Mag. Hort., 20:241. 1854. 15. Downing, 1857:82. 16. Gregg, 1857:44. fig. 17. Hooper, 1857:43. 18. Horticulturist, 13:481. 1858. 19. Warder, 1867:410. fig. 20. Leroy, 1873:375. fig. 21. Bailey, An. Hort., 1892:240. 22. Waugh, Vt. Sta. An. Rpt., 14:296. 1901.
SYNONYMS. Douse (3, 5, 8, 10, 13, 20). Dows (1, 3, 8, 13, 20). Dowse (2, 4, 6, 9, 10, 16, 20, 22). HAWLEY (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22). Howley (20).
Hawley is a very large apple of the Fall Pippin type in color, size and form. When the color is fully developed it is a handsome yellow. Season September and October. It is of delicious dessert quality and desirable for the home orchard but not well adapted for market because the tree is not very productive and the fruit often is scabby and sometimes it water-cores and rots at the core. The tree is a moderate grower in the nursery but in the orchard it is rather vigorous, medium in size to large, hardy and rather long-lived. It does not come into bearing very young. When mature it bears quite regularly but is usually a light or moderate cropper.
Historical. Originated on the farm of Mr. Mathew Hawley, New Canaan, N. Y., about 1750, from seeds which Mr. Hawley obtained from Milford, Conn. (1, 3). The original tree lived nearly a century. The variety gradually became disseminated throughout New York state. It has long been known in cultivation in different parts of the state, particularly in Columbia, Onondaga, Cayuga, Tompkins, Seneca and Monroe counties. It is now rarely listed by nurserymen and is seldom planted.
FRUIT.
Fruit large or very large, pretty uniform in size and shape. Form nearly globular to somewhat oblate or slightly conic, sometimes inclined to elliptical, more or less distinctly ribbed. Stem medium in length, rather slender. Cavity acute to nearly obtuse, deep, wide and with outspreading russet rays. Calyx below medium to rather large, partly closed; lobes often separated at base, reflexed, wide, acute. Basin moderately deep to deep, medium to wide, very abrupt, often decidedly furrowed. Skin fair, smooth, waxy, rather thin, pale green deepening to yellow as it matures, sometimes showing a faint brownish blush, with scattering russet dots and flecks especially toward the cavity. Calyx tube large, wide, cone-shape, yellow or brownish. Core below medium to above; cells closed; core lines meeting. Carpels rather flat, tufted, roundish, emarginate. Seeds few, obtuse. When well developed they are medium in size, but often some are abortive. Flesh tinged with yellow, soft, very tender, rather fine-grained, juicy, rich, mild subacid, very good especially for dessert. Season September to November or later.
— C.M. Hovey, The Fruits of America (1852)THE HAWLEY APPLE.
Hawley. Magazine of Horticulture, vol. xiii. p. 535. Dows or Douse of some American Collections.
The Hawley apple, though yet but little known out of its native locality, will undoubtedly become one of the most popular of our fall varieties. It has a combination of excellent qualities : first, its large size, often measuring twelve inches in circumference ; second, its uniform handsome shape, and freedom from specks or blemishes ; third, its fine deep lemon yellow skin; fourth, its remarkably tender and high flavored flesh ; and, lastly, its productiveness, vigorous growth, &c. All these properties are rarely possessed by a single kind, and hence its superiority over many others.
This fine apple was introduced to notice by Gen. E. W. Leavenworth, of Syracuse, N. Y. In the fall of 1846, he sent us some remarkably fine specimens of the fruit, with an account of its origin. From his letter it appears that, about a century ago, Mr. Matthew Hawley removed from Milford, Conn., to New Canaan, in Columbia Co., N. Y., and, as usual with every settler at that time, took with him a lot of apple seeds, from which he raised and planted an orchard of seedling trees on his farm in that place. The Hawley was one of these seedling trees. The farm afterwards passed into the hands of his son Daniel, and was, in 1846, owned by Thomas Hawley, the son of Daniel. For about forty years, it has been well known and cultivated in the neighborhood of its locality, as well as by eminent orchardists in Onondaga and Cayuga counties. The original tree has been dead about twenty years. Scions were obtained from it by the uncles of Mr. Leavenworth, through whom he became acquainted with this apple, and generally made known its excellence.
The tree is a good grower, forms a fine round and rather loose head, and bears abundant crops. Its season is the last of September, just before the Fall Pippin, which it somewhat resembles in shape and general appearance.
Tree. — Vigorous, upright, somewhat spreading, branching low, and forming a handsome head ; annual shoots rather slender.
Wood. — Clear reddish chestnut, dotted with minute grayish specks, rather slender, short-jointed, and very downy at the ends ; old wood, light chestnut brown ; buds, small, short, broad, and flattened.
Leaves. — Medium size, oblong-ovate, thin, with prominent nerves, downy beneath, wavy, and finely and very sharply serrated; petioles, rather short, half an inch long, moderately stout.
Flowers. — Medium size ; petals, cupped.
Fruit. — Large, about three and a half inches broad, and three deep : Form, roundish, rather broad, flattened, somewhat ribbed at the base, and narrowing little towards the crown : Skin, fair, smooth, with an oily touch, pale green, becoming of a rich lemon yellow when mature, and covered with small scattered russet specks : Stem, medium length, about three quarters of an inch long, straight, rather slender, and inserted in a deep, broad, and uneven cavity : Eye, medium size, nearly closed, and moderately sunk in a small, slightly furrowed basin : Flesh, yellow, fine, soft, and very tender : Juice, abundant, pleasantly acid, rich, brisk, high flavored, and excellent: Core, large, nearly closed: Seeds, medium size, broad.
Ripe in September, and in eating through October.
— F.R. Elliott, The Western Fruit Book (1865)Hawley.
Douse, | Dow's.
Native of Columbia Co., N. Y. Much resembles Fall Pippin, but larger, and ripens earlier, and is invariably affected with dry rot in all soils. Fruit, large, roundish, flattened conical, yellowish green to yellow, with few brown dots ; stem, slender ; cavity, wide ; calyx, small, partly closed ; basin, medium, slightly plaited ; flesh, yellowish white, tender, juicy, sub-acid. October, sometimes in September.
— John J. Thomas, The American Fruit Culturist (1903)Hawley. (Dowse.) Quite large, roundish, slightly conical, sometimes nearly round, with a broad obtuse apex, and slightly flattened, smooth; pale green becoming yellow, sometimes a very faint orange cheek; stalk one-half to one inch long, slender; cavity wide, deep, acute, sometimes slightly obtuse; basin deep, slightly furrowed; flesh yellowish white, fine-grained, quite tender, with a mild, rich, sub-acid, fine flavor. Ripens at mid-autumn. Shoots of rather slow growth. Origin, Columbia County, N. Y. Liability to dry rot and water-core has rendered it of little value. Fig. 372.