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Primate

Apple
USDA watercolor illustration of Primate

USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection

Primate

Origin / History

Primate grew as a seedling on the farm of Calvin D. Bingham in the town of Camillus, Onondaga County, New York, about 1840 (Beach; Hedrick). Thomas gives New York as its home. Downing and Budd-Hansen call the origin unknown. Downing adds that it "appears to have been long known and grown in various sections of our States under different names." Elliott in 1865 called it "a variety lately come into favorable notice in Central New York, that may yet prove an old sort improved by soil and location."

Traveling grafters disseminated it in Central and Western New York as much as fifty years before Beach wrote (1905). In 1850 Charles P. Cowles of Syracuse wrote to the Magazine of Horticulture: "As it is not known in this place, nor state, by the best judges, I safely think it is a seedling. I found a few trees in Onondaga county in a town of the same name which had been circulated by grafts but nothing further could be traced of its origin. * * * I propose to call it 'Rough and Ready' from the fact of its being first tested during that campaign. * * * Messrs. Downing, Barry and Thomas think it a new variety. * * * It is but little known as yet but where it is its qualities are much esteemed."

The following year A. Fahnstock, a nurseryman of Syracuse, showed that the variety had been disseminated in Ontario and Monroe counties as well as in Onondaga County, and that it was generally known by the name Primate. More recently John T. Roberts of Syracuse looked up its history and became convinced that the original seedling tree grew in Camillus. Through his efforts a bronze tablet was erected to mark the spot, inscribed: "On this farm Calvin D. Bingham about 1840 produced the marvelous Primate apple, named by Charles P. Cowles. God's earth is full of love to man."

In 1854 the American Pomological Society listed it as a valuable variety. Beach records it as listed by nurserymen from the Atlantic to the Middle West but apparently little known in either the Southwest or the Northwest. Lowther's station tables report it from 25 stations in the Northern Division, 26 in the Central, and 14 in the Southern, each with the remark "also reported in another division."

As a dessert apple its reputation stands high. Downing calls it "this delicious amateur's Apple." Warder calls it "this delicious table apple" with "strong claims upon our admiration, on account of its good qualities as a dessert fruit." Budd-Hansen call it "one of the best dessert summer apples for the family orchard," and Hedrick "another choicely good fall apple."

Beach calls it well known throughout New York but not much grown except for home use. He writes that it is "commonly considered the best apple of its season for the home orchard," because the tree is a pretty good grower and a reliable cropper and the fruit ripens in succession over several weeks and is of fine flavor and excellent quality. Hedrick likewise says "by many it is considered the best variety of its season," by reason of high quality of fruit and trees that grow vigorously and bear reliably and abundantly. He calls it "a welcome addition in every home orchard to precede Porter."

Tree

Tree below medium to rather large, usually moderately vigorous (Beach). Budd-Hansen call it vigorous, strong, and stocky, and Warder thrifty, stocky, vigorous, strongly branched. Hedrick says the trees grow vigorously. Downing calls it a strong and stocky grower forming a beautiful head. Form upright spreading to roundish, rather dense.

Twigs short, straight, stout, with large terminal buds; internodes short. Young shoots reddish brown, quite downy (Downing); light olive (Warder). Bark dull brown mingled with green, heavily streaked with scarf-skin, pubescent, rather rough. Lenticels scattering, medium size, oblong, raised. Buds prominent, large, broad, plump, acute, pubescent. Foliage pale green (Warder).

Productive to very productive; Hedrick says it bears reliably and abundantly. Beach calls it a reliable cropper. He says it often yields very heavy crops biennially with lighter crops, or none, on alternate years, but in some localities is almost an annual bearer.

Downing calls the tree hardy. Beach reports that in some localities it has proved somewhat tender, not very long-lived, and rather susceptible to apple canker. As grown generally through Central and Western New York, and particularly where topworked on good thrifty stock, he finds it a pretty good grower, moderately long-lived, and reliably productive. Hedrick writes that the trees are "inviting prey to the canker-fungi, because of which they are often short-lived."

Fruit

Size: Medium to above medium, sometimes large (Beach). Most authors call it medium; Warder gives "full medium" and Thomas above medium.

Form: Roundish conic to oblate conic, roundish oblate and slightly conical, tapering to the eye. Warder calls it globular, and Lowther's table round. Angular, irregular (Warder, Budd-Hansen). Somewhat to often distinctly ribbed.

Stem: Short to long, thick, most often of medium length; Elliott calls it "varying."

Cavity: Acute, deep, rather large to large, irregular, distinctly furrowed; wavy and green (Warder). Beach calls it broad; Elliott calls it rather narrow and Budd-Hansen narrow.

Calyx: Closed; small to medium size; lobes long, narrow. Warder describes the eye as small but long, with segments reflexed. Calyx tube rather large, rather long, broadly conical to somewhat funnel-shaped; stamens median (Beach).

Basin: Abrupt, folded, furrowed and wrinkled, somewhat corrugated, open (Downing). Moderately shallow to deep; medium in width to rather narrow (Beach).

Skin: Thin, moderately tender, smooth; Warder speaks of "the extreme delicacy of its skin." Ground light green, greenish yellow, or yellowish green, ripening to whitish, greenish white, or nearly white, sometimes with a faint yellowish tinge, or to pale or light yellow. Often slightly or faintly blushed, but not striped. Downing gives a crimson blush on the exposed side, Budd-Hansen a crimson blush, and Elliott an occasional blush red cheek. Lowther's table gives the color as yellow-red.

Dots: Scattering, numerous, rather small to minute, submerged or russet.

Flesh and flavor: Flesh white or whitish; yellowish white (Elliott); greenish white (Warder). Fine-grained, crisp (Beach), very tender, delicate (Elliott), juicy to very juicy. Thomas says it often water-cores.

Flavor mild subacid, sprightly, very agreeable, refreshing (Downing), aromatic (Beach). Beach credits it with fine flavor and excellent quality, particularly for dessert.

Quality very good to best. Elliott and Warder rate it "best," and Lowther's table alone merely "good."

Core and seeds: Core medium to large, nearly axile to somewhat abaxile, with a hollow cylinder in the axis; core lines clasping. Cells symmetrical, open (Beach), and Elliott likewise gives open seed-capsules. Warder calls the core round and closed. Carpels cordate (Beach).

Seeds numerous (Warder), medium to rather large, moderately wide, plump, acute (Beach); pyriform (Elliott); angular, long, dark (Warder).

Season

The recorded season runs from July into October. The common placement is August and September, extended to October, with Downing beginning at the last of August. Thomas places it in the latter part of summer, and Lowther's table says summer. Warder alone gives July and August, and Elliott alone September and October. Hedrick calls it a fall apple preceding Porter.

The fruit ripens unevenly, in succession over several weeks. Beach advises picking it from time to time as it matures, to prevent loss from dropping.

Uses

A dessert apple for the home and family orchard; Thomas calls it "valuable for home use." It is ill suited to commercial planting. Warder writes that "the extreme delicacy of its skin and flesh render it unfit for market; it is therefore not profitable for the commercial orchard." Budd-Hansen find it too tender for distant shipment. Budd-Hansen and Hedrick both say its succession ripening fits it to the home orchard and makes it fail in commercial plantations. Beach says that, being less attractive than a red apple, it is in demand in market only where its fine quality is known. Lowther's table alone lists it for both kitchen and market.

Subtypes / Variants

Not described in source.

Other

Downing's volume carries, besides the Primate entry, a separate description under the name Early Tart Harvest. In that entry the tree is moderately vigorous and productive. Fruit medium, oblate, slightly conic, obscurely ribbed, waxen white, sometimes greenish, rarely a blush in sun. Stalk medium; calyx closed. Flesh white, very tender, juicy, brisk subacid; very good. Core medium. Ripe about two weeks later than Early Harvest.

Hedrick calls Primate and Porter "so different in most characters as to be hardly a rival."

Book Sources

Described in 8 period pomological works

Nursery Catalog Sources

Found in 10 catalogs (1899–1913) from Illinois, Missouri

View original book sources (8)

Primate.

Rough and Ready, | Summer Pippin, erroneously.

A variety lately come into favorable notice in Central New York, that may yet prove an old sort improved by soil and location. Fruit, medium, roundish, tapering to the eye—pale yellow—occasionally, blush red cheek; calyx, closed; basin, deep; stem, varying; cavity, rather narrow; core, with open seed-capsules; seeds, pyriform; flesh, yellowish white, very tender, delicate, juicy, mild sub-acid; "best." September and October.

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

Primate.

This delicious table apple has strong claims upon our admiration, on account of its good qualities as a dessert fruit, for the extreme delicacy of its skin and flesh render it unfit for market; it is therefore not profitable for the commercial orchard.

Tree thrifty, stocky, vigorous, strongly branched, productive; Shoots stout, short, light olive; Buds prominent, foliage pale green.

Fruit full medium, globular, angular, irregular; Surface smooth, greenish-yellow, becoming almost white, sometimes faintly blushed; Dots minute.

Basin abrupt, folded; Eye small but long, closed; Segments reflexed.

Cavity acute, wavy, green; Stem medium to long, thick.

Core medium, round, closed, clasping; Seeds numerous, angular, long, dark; Flesh greenish-white, very tender, fine-grained; Flavor mild sub-acid, very agreeable; Quality best; Use, the dessert; Season, July and August.

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

Primate.

Rough and Ready. Early Tart Harvest. Sour Harvest. Zour Bough. July Apple. Powers. Scott. North American Best.

The true origin of this delicious amateur's Apple is unknown. It appears to have been long known and grown in various sections of our States under different names. The tree is hardy, a strong and stocky grower, and forms a beautiful head, very productive. Young shoots short-jointed, reddish brown, quite downy. Buds rather prominent.

Fruit medium, roundish oblate conic, greenish white, with a crimson blush on the exposed side. Stalk of medium length, inserted in a rather large, deep, irregular cavity. Calyx closed in an abrupt, open, somewhat corrugated basin. Flesh white, very tender, sprightly, refreshing, mild subacid. Very good or best. An excellent dessert Apple, ripening the last of August, and continuing in use till October.

[Additional entry in this volume: "Early Tart Harvest", pp. 183–183]

Early Tart Harvest. Tree moderately vigorous, productive. Fruit medium, oblate, slightly conic, obscurely ribbed, waxen white, sometimes greenish, rarely a blush in sun. Stalk medium. Calyx closed. Flesh white, very tender, juicy, brisk subacid. Very good. Core medium. Ripe about two weeks later than Early Harvest.

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

Primate.* Above medium in size, roundish-conical, somewhat ribbed; light green, becoming light yellow, often with a slight blush; fine grained, very juicy, with a very agreeable, mild, sub-acid flavor. Ripens for several weeks through the latter part of summer. Often water-cores. Valuable for home use. New York. Fig. 366.

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

PRIMATE.

REFERENCES. 1. Cowles, Mag. Hort., 16:450. 1850. fig. 2. Ib., 17:506. 1851. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat., 1854. 4. Mag. Hort., 20:241. 1854. 5. Elliott, 1854:153. fig. 6. Mag. Hort., 21:62. 1855. 7. Gregg, 1857:38. 8. Downing, 1857:93. fig. 9. Horticulturist, 14:471. 1859. 10. Mag. Hort., 27:69. 1861. 11. Horticulturist, 17:103, 150. 1862. 12. Mag. Hort., 32:17. 1866. 13. Warder, 1867:643. fig. 14. Downing, 1869:313. 15. Fitz, 1872:161. 16. Thomas, 1875:196. 17. Downing, 1881:11, index, app. 18. Barry, 1883:334. 19. Rural N. Y., 47:649. 1888. 20. Lyon, Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1890:296. 21. Blackwell, Rural N. Y., 50:447. 1891. 22. Bailey, An. Hort., 1892:247. 23. Hoskins, Rural N. Y., 53:248. 1894. 24. Can. Hort., 17:252. 1894. 25. Woolverton, Ont. Fr. Stas. An. Rpt., 8:9. 1901. figs. 26. Budd-Hansen, 1903:153. fig. 27. Rural N. Y., 62:740. 1903.

SYNONYMS. Belle Rose (17). Early Baldwin (17). Early Tart Harvest (14). Harvest (2). Highland Pippin (17). July Apple (14). NORTH AMERICAN BEST (9). North American Best (14). Powers (2, 14). PRIMATE (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27). ROUGH AND READY (1). Rough and Ready (2, 5, 7, 8, 14). Scott (14). Sour Harvest (9, 14). Zour Bough (9, 14).

A dessert apple, pale yellow or whitish, often slightly blushed; in season in August and September. It is well known throughout the state, but not much grown except for home use. It is commonly considered the best apple of its season for the home orchard because the tree is a pretty good grower and a reliable cropper, and the fruit ripens in succession during a period of several weeks and is of fine flavor and excellent quality particularly for dessert use. Being less attractive than a red apple it is in demand in market only where its fine quality is known. The fruit ripens unevenly and it should be picked from time to time as it matures to prevent loss from the dropping of the fruit. In some localities the tree has proved somewhat tender, not very long-lived and rather susceptible to the attacks of the apple canker, but, generally speaking, as grown throughout Central and Western New York, particularly where it has been topworked upon good thrifty stock, the tree is a pretty good grower, moderately long-lived and reliably productive. Often it yields very heavy crops biennially with lighter crops, or none, on alternate years, but in some localities it is almost an annual bearer.

Historical. This variety was disseminated by traveling grafters in Central and Western New York as much as fifty years ago. In 1850, Charles P. Cowles of Syracuse in a communication to the Magazine of Horticulture stated: "As it is not known in this place, nor state, by the best judges, I safely think it is a seedling. I found a few trees in Onondaga county in a town of the same name which had been circulated by grafts but nothing further could be traced of its origin. * * * I propose to call it 'Rough and Ready' from the fact of its being first tested during that campaign. * * * Messrs. Downing, Barry and Thomas think it a new variety. * * * It is but little known as yet but where it is its qualities are much esteemed" (1). The following year Mr. A. Fahnstock, a nurseryman of Syracuse, showed that this variety had been disseminated in Ontario and Monroe counties as well as in Onondaga county and that it was generally known by the name of Primate. Recently John T. Roberts of Syracuse has taken the trouble to look up the history of this variety and is convinced that the original seedling tree grew in the town of Camillus, Onondaga county, and through his efforts a bronze tablet has been erected to mark the spot. The tablet bears the following inscription: "On this farm Calvin D. Bingham about 1840 produced the marvelous Primate apple, named by Charles P. Cowles. God's earth is full of love to man" (27). In 1854 it was listed by the American Pomological Society (3) as a valuable variety. It is listed by various nurserymen in the region from the Atlantic to the Middle West but apparently is but little known either in the Southwest or the Northwest (22).

TREE.

Tree below medium to rather large, usually moderately vigorous. Form upright spreading to roundish, rather dense. Twigs short, straight, stout with large terminal buds; internodes short. Bark dull brown mingled with green, heavily streaked with scarf-skin, pubescent and rather rough. Lenticels scattering, medium size, oblong, raised. Buds prominent, large, broad, plump, acute, pubescent.

FRUIT.

Fruit medium or above, sometimes large. Form roundish conic to oblate conic, often distinctly ribbed. Stem short to medium, thick. Cavity acute, deep, broad, distinctly furrowed. Calyx medium size, closed; lobes long, narrow. Basin moderately shallow to rather deep, medium in width to rather narrow, abrupt, furrowed and wrinkled. Skin thin, moderately tender, smooth, light green, often changing to whitish, sometimes with faint yellowish tinge, often slightly blushed but not striped. Dots scattering, numerous, rather small, submerged or russet. Calyx tube rather large, rather long, broadly conical to somewhat funnelshape. Stamens median. Core medium to large, nearly axile to somewhat abaxile with hollow cylinder in the axis; cells symmetrical, open; core lines clasping. Carpels cordate. Seeds medium to rather large, moderately wide, plump, acute. Flesh whitish, fine, crisp, very tender, juicy, subacid, aromatic, sprightly, very good to best. Season August and September.

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

Primate. — Origin unknown; one of the best dessert summer apples for the family orchard; too tender for distant shipment; tree vigorous, strong, and stocky, and very productive. The fruit ripens in succession, and hence it is better adapted for the home orchard.

Primate.

Fruit medium; form roundish oblate, slightly conical, angular, irregular; surface yellowish green, when ripe nearly white, with crimson blush; cavity large, deep, narrow, irregular; stem medium; basin abrupt, somewhat corrugated; calyx small, closed; flesh white, fine-grained, very tender, juicy, sprightly mild subacid, very good to best. August to October.

— J.L. Budd & N.E. Hansen, American Horticultural Manual, Part II: Systematic Pomology (1914)

Primate. Size: medium. Form: round. Color: yellow-red. Quality: good. Use: both kitchen and market. Season: summer. Northern Division: 25 reporting stations (also reported in another division). Central Division: 26 reporting stations (also reported in another division). Southern Division: 14 reporting stations (also reported in another division).

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

PRIMATE. Fig. 43. Harvest. July Apple. Sour Harvest. Sour Bough. Primate is another choicely good fall apple, preceding Porter in season, and so different in most characters as to be hardly a rival. By many it is considered the best variety of its season, by reason of high quality of fruit and trees that grow vigorously and bear reliably and abundantly. The variety fails in commercial plantations because the crop ripens over a period of several weeks. Unfortunately, the trees are inviting prey to the canker-fungi, because of which they are often short-lived. The variety is a welcome addition in every home orchard to precede Porter. Primate grew as a seedling on the farm of Calvin D. Bingham, Camillus, New York, about 1840. Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, dense. Fruit medium, sometimes large, round-conic or oblate-conic, often distinctly ribbed; stem short, thick; cavity acute, deep, broad, furrowed; calyx closed; lobes long, narrow; basin shallow, medium in width, abrupt, furrowed and wrinkled; skin thin, tender, smooth, light green or yellow, blushed but not striped; dots scattering, numerous, small, submerged or russet; calyx-tube large, long, broadly conical; stamens median; core large, axile or abaxile with hollow cylinder in the axis; cells symmetrical, open; core-lines clasping; carpels cordate; seeds large, wide, plump, acute; flesh white, fine, crisp, very tender, juicy, subacid, aromatic, sprightly; very good to best; August and September.

— U.P. Hedrick, Cyclopedia of Hardy Fruits (1922)
Belle Rose Early Baldwin Early Tart Harvest Harvest Highland Pippin Jenkin's Summer Pippin July Apple Kirkbridge White North American Best Powers Rough and Ready Ryerson Scott Sour Bough Sour Harvest Summer Pippin Yellow June Zour Bough Scott Sour Bough Summer Golden Pippin Tart Bough Vandevere White Juneating Winter Pearmain Yellow Ingestrie Yellow June