Herman

Apple

Herman

Origin / History

Herman is from Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, and originated on the farm of a Mr. Herman (Downing). Elliott (1865) took his account from the Pomological Transactions. Warder (1867) quotes Samuel Miller's description as printed in Downing, and Downing's 1900 text descends from the same account.

Tree

Vigorous and spreading; productive, quite prolific.

Fruit

Size: Medium.

Form: Oblong, conic.

Stem: Not described in source.

Cavity: Not described in source.

Calyx: Not described in source.

Basin: Not described in source.

Skin: Striped with red on a green to greenish-yellow ground. Elliott gives the ground as greenish yellow, and Miller calls the stripes "fine red."

Dots: Not described in source.

Flesh and flavor: Flesh greenish, greenish white in Miller's account; tender, juicy, subacid, and in Miller's words of "high flavor." Thomas rates it "very good," as does Elliott, quoting the Pomological Transactions. Downing (1900) rates it "Good."

Core and seeds: Not described in source.

Season

Winter. The recorded season runs from November to April. Elliott begins it in December, and Downing (1900) closes it in February.

Uses

Not described in source.

Subtypes / Variants

Not described in source.

Other

Downing describes another Hermann, which originated at Hermann, Missouri, from seed of Rawles Janet. Tree a fine grower, upright, and very productive. Fruit medium, conical, "blight red," with gray dots. Flesh whitish, juicy, pleasant subacid. December to May.

Book Sources

Described in 4 period pomological works

View original book sources (4)

Herman.

From Cumberland County, Pa. Tree, productive ; fruit, medium, oblong, red striped on greenish yellow; flesh, greenish, tender, juicy; "very good." December to April. (Pom. Trans.)

— F.R. Elliott, The Western Fruit Book (1865)

Herman.

"From Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. Tree vigorous, spreading, quite prolific.

Fruit medium, oblong, conic; fine red, striped on green. Flesh greenish white, tender, juicy, sub-acid, and high flavor; November to April." — [Saml. Miller, in Downing.]

— John A. Warder, American Pomology: Apples (1867)

Herman.

Origin, farm of Mr. Herman, Cumberland Co., Pa. Tree vigorous and spreading, quite prolific.

Fruit medium, oblong conic, red striped on green ground. Flesh greenish, tender, juicy, subacid. Good. November to February.

There is also another Hermann, which originated at Hermann, Mo., from seed of Rawles Janet. Tree a fine grower, upright, and very productive.

Fruit medium, conical, blight red, with gray dots. Flesh whitish, juicy, pleasant subacid. December to May.

— A.J. Downing, The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America (1900)

Herman. Medium, oblong conic, striped; flesh greenish, sub-acid, very good. Winter. Pa.

— John J. Thomas, The American Fruit Culturist (1903)