Jersey Sweet

Jersey Sweet. AMERICAN.

In some parts of the country this is a favorite baking apple but its great productiveness renders it small, and makes it rather a stock apple. Tree vigorous, round-headed; Shoots short-jointed and red; Foliage abundant.

Fig. 63.—JERSEY SWEET.

Fruit medium, regular, globular-oblate, sometimes rather conical, (according to Elliott & Downing, roundish-ovate, but the drawing given by the latter is globular); Surface smooth, yellow, nearly covered with red, mixed, striped and splashed carmine, more or less distinctly; Dots generally minute. Basin medium to wide, regular; Eye small, generally closed. Cavity wide, regular or wavy, rather deep, brown, and in Michigan often green; Stem medium to long, green. Core wide, regular, partially open in some specimens, but generally closed; Seeds numerous, wide, pointed, plump; Flesh pale yellow, tender, fine grained, juicy; Flavor very sweet, aromatic and rich; Use, the dessert, for those who like sweet apples, but especially valued for baking and for feeding stock. Season August to October.

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

JERSEY SWEET.

REFERENCES. 1. Downing, 1845:87. 2. N. Y. Agr. Soc. Trans., 1846:190. 3. Cole, 1849:110. 4. Thomas, 1849:145. fig. 5. Barry, 1851:284. 6. Emmons, Nat. Hist. N. Y., 3:25. 1851. 7. Waring, 1851:26. 8. Elliott, 1854:86. fig. 9. Hooper, 1857:48. 10. Ib., 1857:107, 111. 11. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat., 1862. 12. Horticulturist, 17:104, 150. 1862. 13. Warder, 1867:395. 14. Fitz, 1872:153. 15. Lyon, Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1890:292. 16. Bailey, An. Hort., 1892:242. 17. Hoskins, Rural N. Y., 53:278. 1894. 18. Mich. Sta. Bul., 118:60. 1895. 19. Ib., 143:200. 1897. 20. Ib., 205:45. 1903. 21. Budd-Hansen, 1903:105. 22. Beach and Clark, N. Y. Sta. Bul., 248:126. 1904.

SYNONYMS. American (13). JERSEY SWEET (5, 7, 10, 12, 13, 16, 18, 21). JERSEY SWEETING (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 14, 17).

An early autumn apple of medium size. It does not always color well but under favorable conditions it is highly colored, rich in flavor, tender and excellent in quality for either dessert or culinary uses. It is one of the best of the sweet apples of its season for planting for home use in New York but it has proved unsatisfactory as a commercial sort because it ripens at a time when there is little demand for fruit of this kind, is not a good keeper, is apt to be scabby and does not always color well. The tree is hardy, moderately long-lived, comes into bearing young and bears nearly every year, yielding moderate to good or sometimes heavy crops. The fruit comes in season late in August or early in September and ripens in succession during a period of several weeks; often some portion may be kept till early winter, but its commercial limit in ordinary storage is September or early October (22).

Historical. Origin unknown. Elliott calls it an American variety (8). It is pretty well known in different parts of New York state, but is now rarely found except in old orchards. It is commonly listed by nurserymen (16) but is now seldom or never planted except occasionally for home use.

TREE.

Tree rather large, moderately vigorous to vigorous; branches long, moderately stout, filled with spurs. Form upright to roundish, open. Twigs moderately long, straight, slender; internodes long. Bark brown, lightly streaked with scarf-skin; pubescent near tips. Lenticels scattering, medium to small, oblong, not raised. Buds medium size, plump, obtuse, appressed, pubescent.

FRUIT.

Fruit medium size. Form roundish ovate inclined to conic or to oblate conic; sides unequal. Stem long to medium length, rather slender. Cavity acute, usually rather deep, varying to shallow, medium in width, occasionally lipped, sometimes slightly russeted. Calyx small, closed; lobes medium to long, narrow, acute to acuminate. Basin rather small, moderately shallow to rather deep, narrow to medium in width, somewhat abrupt, ribbed and wrinkled.

Skin thin, tender, at first greenish-yellow but becoming clear yellow washed and mottled with brownish-red and overlaid with narrow stripes of bright carmine. Dots inconspicuous, greenish, submerged.

Calyx tube narrow, conical to funnel-form, often with fleshy pistil point projecting into the base. Stamens median.

Core medium size or above, axile or nearly so; cells symmetrical, usually closed; core lines clasping the funnel cylinder. Carpels elongated ovate, tufted. Seeds medium to large, variable in length and width, acute to acuminate.

Flesh yellowish, moderately firm, fine, crisp, tender, juicy, sweet, good to very good.

Season September to December.

— S.A. Beach, The Apples of New York, Vol. 2 (1905)

Jersey Sweet. Size: M; Form: r; Color: yr; Quality: VG; Use: b; Season: a; S.Div.: 5*

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

Jersey Sweet.* Size medium, round ovate, often oblong-ovate, somewhat conical; thickly striped with fine red on greenish yellow; stalk one-half to an inch long; cavity rather irregular; basin wrinkled, distinct; flesh whitish, very sweet, juicy and tender, good flavor. Succeeds well in most localities. Early and mid-autumn—immediately follows Golden Sweet. Shoots stout, short jointed; leaves crenate-serrate. New Jersey. Fig. 376.

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