Romna

Origin / History

Romna is a Russian variety. It was received at the New York Agricultural Experiment Station from Dr. T. H. Hoskins of Newport, Vermont, in 1888 for testing. The variety has carried multiple departmental and Russian designations in the American literature, including No. 11 M, No. 599 (Department), Romenskoe, Romnenskoe, and Omensk.

Hansen (1902) notes that confusion existed in the American distribution of this variety: "the large, round, green winter apple as grown by Mr. Tuttle, of Wisconsin, under the name of Romenskoe, will hereafter be known as the true Romna. This settles the matter definitely, as Hibernal has been mixed with Romna as originally sent out from Russia."

A first-hand grower assessment from A. G. Tuttle (quoted in Hansen 1902): "Romna is a good apple, but not one of the first dozen varieties that I would plant. It keeps till April or May, but does not get good until April. Tree has an irregular top and is a slow grower."

C. G. Patten (quoted in Hansen 1902) states: "I regard Romna as the most valuable of all the Russians from which to grow seedlings with the hope of getting winter varieties."

J. Sexton (quoted in Hansen 1902): "Romna is a fine apple. The tree is spreading and has the largest leaf of any that we have."

Beach (1905) notes the variety "does not appear to be worthy of the attention of fruit growers in New York except possibly where superior hardiness is a prime requisite."

Tree

Sources disagree on tree vigor and habit.

Beach (1905): Tree moderately vigorous to vigorous; comes into bearing rather young and yields good crops biennially; hardy. Branches short, stout, curved, crooked, and drooping. Form spreading, drooping, flat. Twigs short to medium, straight, moderately slender to stout, with large terminal buds; internodes medium to long. Bark brown, somewhat tinged with red, streaked with grayish scarf-skin; slightly pubescent near tips. Lenticels scattering, small to medium, roundish or oval, slightly raised. Buds moderately small to very large and prominent, broad, very plump, acute, free or nearly so, scarcely pubescent.

Hansen (1902): Tree spreading, irregular, dwarf. Tuttle (quoted in Hansen): "Tree has an irregular top and is a slow grower." Sexton (quoted in Hansen): tree spreading, with the largest leaf of any in their collection.

Budd, in a description quoted by Beach: "This succeeds best on dry soil where its roots run very deep."

Fruit

Size

Sources disagree. Beach (1905): medium or sometimes rather large, not very uniform in shape or size. Hansen (1902) and Budd-Hansen (1914): large, very regular. Thomas (1903): medium. Budd (quoted in Beach): medium in size.

Form

Sources disagree. Beach (1905): usually oblate conic, irregularly elliptical or broadly and obscurely angular, often unsymmetrical with sides unequal. Hansen (1902) and Budd-Hansen (1914): roundish, conical, very regular; described elsewhere by Hansen as "smooth, round, conical, very regular." Thomas (1903): oblate. Budd (quoted in Beach): conical, smooth, handsomely colored.

Beach explicitly notes that as fruited at his Station, the fruit "varies considerably from the descriptions of Budd and Hansen ... particularly in that it is usually oblate conic and is in season during the autumn and early winter instead of late winter and spring."

Stem

Medium length to short and stout, pubescent (Beach). Hansen: stem medium and stout, often knobbed. Budd-Hansen (1914): medium, stout.

Cavity

Beach: medium to rather large, acute or sometimes nearly obtuse, medium in depth to rather deep, rather wide to narrow, somewhat furrowed, occasionally lipped, russeted and often with conspicuous outspreading russet. Hansen / Budd-Hansen: regular, acute, deep.

Calyx

Beach: above medium to large, open or partly closed; lobes often separated at the base, medium in length, rather broad, acute. Calyx tube rather long, wide, funnel-shape. Stamens median. Hansen / Budd-Hansen: calyx closed; tube funnel-shaped; stamens median.

Basin

Beach: medium to large, often oblique, moderately narrow to wide, sometimes compressed, abrupt, furrowed and wrinkled. Hansen / Budd-Hansen: narrow, wrinkled, very shallow. Thomas: wide, shallow.

Skin

Beach: thick, tough, smooth or partly roughened with flecks of russet; color greenish becoming yellow more or less blushed and overspread with thin bloom. Well colored specimens are covered to a considerable extent with pinkish-red, blushed and striped with bright carmine. Hansen and Budd-Hansen: surface smooth, green, with faint bronze blush; further described by Hansen as "dark green with brownish red on sun side, covered with grayish bloom." Thomas: greenish yellow, dull red blush.

Dots

Beach: small, numerous, pale yellow or grayish, sometimes rather conspicuous. Hansen and Budd-Hansen: distinct, many, large, gray; "thickly sprinkled with large grayish dots."

Flesh and Flavor

Beach: yellowish, firm, moderately coarse, juicy, briskly subacid, slightly astringent, fair to good. Hansen and Budd-Hansen: white, firm, pleasant subacid, good; flesh fine grained; flavor mild, pleasant acid. Thomas: firm, mild sub-acid, juicy, good. Budd (quoted in Beach): "Flesh white, firm, quite acid and best for cooking, but when matured it is much better for dessert use than Willow or Missouri Pippin or other coarse sorts found in our markets."

Core and Seeds

Beach: Core medium to small, axile or nearly so; cells closed; core lines meeting or slightly clasping. Carpels roundish ovate, somewhat emarginate, slightly tufted. Seeds medium to small, rather short, narrow, plump, obtuse to acute, rather dark brown. Hansen and Budd-Hansen: core closed, clasping.

Season

Sources disagree. Beach (1905), based on fruiting at the New York Station: commercial limit is early October; season in ordinary storage extends from September to January; properly classed as a fall and early winter apple. Beach notes an earlier (1896) report that placed the season in late August and early September was "erroneous because it was incomplete" — while fruit began to come in season then, some portion was kept in ordinary storage till midwinter.

Hansen (1902) and Budd-Hansen (1914): late winter and spring. Thomas (1903): winter. Budd (quoted in Beach): "Season, midwinter here, and late winter north of 43d parallel." Tuttle (quoted in Hansen): "It keeps till April or May, but does not get good until April."

Uses

Budd (quoted in Beach): best for cooking when not fully matured, but "when matured it is much better for dessert use than Willow or Missouri Pippin or other coarse sorts found in our markets." Patten (quoted in Hansen) regarded Romna as the most valuable of all the Russians from which to grow seedlings with the hope of getting winter varieties.

Subtypes / Variants

Not described in source, beyond Hansen's note (above, under Origin/History) that Hibernal had been mixed with Romna as originally sent out from Russia, and that Tuttle's "Romenskoe" was being designated the true Romna.

Other

Beach explicitly notes that the fruit as grown at the New York Station "corresponds very closely with the illustrated description given by Troop and Waugh but it varies considerably from the descriptions of Budd and Hansen," particularly in form (oblate conic vs. roundish conical) and season (autumn and early winter vs. late winter and spring).

Hansen size code: "Size, 6."