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Hewe's Virginia Crab

Apple

Origin/History

The origin of this apple is satisfactorily traced to Virginia. Coxe (1817) reports that trees nearly one hundred years old were then standing in the orchard of a respectable inhabitant of that state, from whom he obtained the information. The variety is found in all extensive and good cider orchards (Warder). The Virginia Crab makes a very high-flavored dry cider, which, by connoisseurs, is thought unsurpassed in flavor by any other, and retains its soundness a long time (Downing).

Tree

The tree is of small size (Coxe, Downing), of slender growth, but makes a large, spreading top (Warder). The wood is hard and tough, never breaking with the load of fruit (Coxe). Twigs are slender (Warder). The tree is very hardy; Coxe notes that in its bearing year it resists the frosts which frequently cut off other apples. It is immensely productive in alternate years and long lived (Warder; Coxe similarly notes it bears usually every second year).

Foliage conflict: Coxe describes the leaves as small but of luxuriant growth. Warder describes the foliage as sparse.

Coxe notes that the size of the fruit may be increased by liberal manuring and good cultivation, reporting that he hauled from one to three and four loads of meadow or river mud round many hundreds of his trees, with the best effect in the increase both of the size and quantity of the fruit.

Fruit

Size: Very small. About an inch and a half in diameter (Downing).

Form: Nearly round (Coxe, Downing). Warder describes it as round, somewhat flattened, regular.

Stem: Long and thin (Coxe); long and slender (Downing); long, red (Warder).

Cavity: Deep, regular (Warder).

Calyx: Eye small, closed (Warder).

Basin: Shallow (Warder).

Skin: Dull red, mixed with faint streaks of greenish yellow, and numerous small white spots (Coxe). Downing agrees: dull red, dotted with white specks, and obscurely streaked with greenish yellow. Warder describes the surface as mixed, striped, purplish red on yellow.

Dots: Coxe describes numerous small white spots; Downing notes white specks. Warder describes the dots as numerous, large, pale or fawn — differing from Coxe and Downing in both size and color.

Flesh: Singularly fibrous and astringent (Coxe); fibrous (Downing). Warder describes it as firm, yellowish and greenish, juicy.

Flavor: Coxe: acid and austere to the taste when mixed with the flesh, but the juice becomes sweet and highly flavoured when expressed from the pulp in the perfect maturity of the fruit. Warder: acid, rich; the must is very heavy. Downing: acid, rough, and astringent flavor. When ground, the juice runs clear and limpid from the press, and ferments very slowly (Downing); Coxe similarly notes that in pressing, the flesh separates from the liquor, which runs through the finest flannel like spring water.

Core/Seeds: Core round, regular, open, clasping. Seeds large, pointed (Warder).

Season

November to January (Warder).

Uses

Preeminently a cider apple, considered best for cider by all sources. The juice, when expressed from the pulp at perfect maturity, becomes sweet and highly flavoured (Coxe). The cider retains its soundness a long time (Downing). It is not practicable to express the juice sufficiently from the pomace in one operation of the press; it is therefore usually returned to the vat and serves to make water cider of a very superior quality (Coxe). Coxe also notes his own practice of mixing the crab pomace in the vat with that of strong rich cider apples, which makes an improved liquor by being strained through and absorbing much of the fine liquor of the crab. Downing similarly notes the Virginia Crab is often mixed with rich pulpy apples, to which it imparts a good deal of its fine quality.

Warder adds that the fruit is also useful for cooking, except on account of its small size; the rich and piquant acid makes it a particularly desirable ingredient in mince-pies.

Subtypes/Variants

Roane's White Crab: Downing describes this as a sub-variety of the Virginia Crab, about the same size, with a yellow skin. It makes a rich, strong, bright liquor, and keeps throughout the summer, in a well-bunged cask, perfectly sweet.

Beely's Crab: Warder notes that in Kentucky there is a variety known as Beely's Crab, with fruit of similar characters, but the tree is a better grower.

Other

Warder rates the quality as "best for cider."

Thomas (1903) lists the variety at p. 348 but provides no description.

Description absent from Lowther (1914); variety present in variety-characteristic table:

Hewes' Crab    S    fr    yt    G    C    a    15*    4*

Book Sources

Described in 5 period pomological works

Nursery Catalog Sources

Found in 7 catalogs (1894–1912) from Alabama, Missouri

View original book sources (5)

NO. 86. HEWES'S VIRGINIA CRAB.

This apple is of very small size; the form nearly round, the stem long and thin, the skin a dull red, mixed with faint streaks of greenish yellow, and numerous small white spots. The juice, although acid and austere to the taste when mixed with the flesh, becomes sweet and highly flavoured when expressed from the pulp in the perfect maturity of the fruit: the flesh is singularly fibrous and astringent; in pressing, it separates from the liquor, which runs through the finest flannel like spring water; in this state it may be transported a great distance to the cellar of the dealer, before the commencement of the fermentation—it is not practicable to express the juice sufficiently from the pomace, in one operation of the press; it is therefore usually returned to the vat, and serves to make water cider of a very superiour quality—my own practice is, to mix the crab pomace in the vat with that of strong rich cider apples, which makes an improved liquor, by being strained through and absorbing much of the fine liquor of the crab. The tree is of small size, the leaves, though small, are of luxuriant growth—the wood hard and tough, never breaking with the load of fruit usually produced every second year—such is the hardiness of this fruit, that in its bearing year it resists the frosts which frequently cut off our other apples: the origin of this apple is satisfactorily traced to Virginia, where trees nearly one hundred years old, are now standing in the orchard of a respectable inhabitant of that State, from whom I obtained the information. The size of the fruit may be increased by liberal manuring and good cultivation—I have hauled from one to three and four loads of meadow or river mud round many hundreds of my trees, with the best effect, in the increase both of the size and quantity of the fruit.

— William Coxe, A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees (1817)

Hewes' Crab.

From Virginia. A famous cider apple, found in all extensive and good cider orchards. Tree of slender growth, but makes a large, spreading top, immensely productive alternate years, long lived; Twigs slender; Foliage sparse.

Fruit quite small, round, somewhat flattened, regular; Surface mixed, striped, purplish red on yellow; Dots numerous, large, pale or fawn.

Basin shallow; Eye small, closed.

Cavity deep, regular; Stem long, red.

Core round, regular, open, clasping; Seeds large, pointed; Flesh firm, yellowish and greenish, juicy; Flavor acid, rich; the must is very heavy; Quality best for cider; Season, November to January. Also useful for cooking, except on account of its small size; the rich and piquant acid makes it a particularly desirable ingredient in mince-pies.

In Kentucky there is a variety of this apple known as Beely's Crab, with fruit of similar characters, but the tree is a better grower.

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

Hewe's Virginia Crab. Hughe's Virginia Crab. The Virginia Crab makes a very high-flavored dry cider, which, by connoisseurs, is thought unsurpassed in flavor by any other, and retains its soundness a long time. It is a prodigious bearer, and the tree is very hardy, though of small size. Fruit quite small, about an inch and a half in diameter, nearly round. Skin dull red, dotted with white specks, and obscurely streaked with greenish yellow. Stalk long and slender. Flesh fibrous, with an acid, rough, and astringent flavor, and, when ground, runs clear and limpid from the press, and ferments very slowly. The Virginia Crab is often mixed with rich pulpy apples, to which it imparts a good deal of its fine quality. The Roane's White Crab is a sub-variety of the foregoing, about the same size, with a yellow skin. It makes a rich, strong, bright liquor, and keeps throughout the summer, in a well-bunged cask, perfectly sweet.

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

Hewes' Crab S fr yt G C a 15* 4*

— Granville Lowther (ed.), Encyclopedia of Practical Horticulture (1914)

Hewes' Virginia Crab, p. 348.

— John J. Thomas, The American Fruit Culturist (1903)
Beely's Crab Hewes Virginia Cider Hewes' Crab Hewes's Virginia Crab Hughe's Virginia Crab Virginia Crab