Sandy Glass

Sandy Glass

Origin/History

Imported from Russia by the Iowa Agricultural College, from which institution it was received in 1890 for testing at the New York Agricultural Experiment Station. Also known in Russian as Steklianka pesotchnaya and catalogued in early Iowa trials as No. 24 M.

Tree

Below medium size, moderately vigorous. Form rather flat, spreading and somewhat inclined to droop. Twigs moderately long, curved, stout; internodes medium. Bark dull brown, heavily coated with rough gray scarfskin; slightly pubescent near tips. Lenticels very conspicuous, numerous, large to medium, oval, raised. Buds medium size, broad, plump, acute to obtuse, free, slightly pubescent.

The tree comes into bearing rather young and is a reliable cropper, yielding pretty good crops nearly annually. Beach notes it is not valuable for planting in New York except possibly in localities where superior hardiness is specially desired.

Fruit

Size and Form: Above medium to large (Beach); large and regular (Thomas). Form roundish oblate or inclined to ovate (Beach); oblate (Thomas). Regular; sometimes obscurely ribbed (Beach).

Stem: Short to medium length, rather thick (Beach); short (Thomas).

Cavity: Rather small, acuminate to acute, moderately deep, narrow to medium in width, usually symmetrical, more or less russeted and often with outspreading rays of thin russet (Beach). Thomas describes the cavity as acute.

Calyx: Small, closed; lobes medium to short, acute.

Basin: Beach describes it as shallow to moderately deep, medium in width to wide, lightly furrowed, wrinkled. Thomas describes it as very wide, shallow, and regular — conflicting with Beach on both depth (Beach allows for moderately deep; Thomas says shallow) and surface character (Beach says furrowed and wrinkled; Thomas says regular).

Skin: Pale greenish-yellow, often becoming clear yellow as it ripens, faintly blushed and overspread with whitish bloom (Beach). Thomas describes the color simply as green.

Dots: Numerous, light, small, submerged, mingled with a few that are large and russet (Beach).

Flesh/Flavor: Beach describes the flesh as white or with a greenish tinge, rather fine, tender, juicy, brisk subacid, fair to good in quality. Thomas gives a conflicting description: flesh yellow and firm, sub-acid, quality very good and best for culinary use. The two sources thus disagree on flesh color (white/greenish vs. yellow), texture (tender vs. firm), and quality rating (fair to good vs. very good).

Core and Seeds: Calyx tube very long, moderately wide, conical to cylindrical. Stamens median to marginal. Core medium to small, axile; cells symmetrical, closed or slightly open; core lines meeting or clasping. Carpels roundish or somewhat ovate, deeply emarginate. Seeds large, wide, plump, acute to obtuse, dull dark brown.

Season

Beach places the season from September to early winter. Thomas gives the season as winter, suggesting a later endpoint or later ripening than Beach observed.

Uses

Thomas states the variety is best for culinary use. Beach describes it as a rather attractive apple of pretty good quality but inferior to Fall Pippin and other standard varieties of its season.

Subtypes/Variants

Not described in source.

Other

Beach cites nine references spanning 1885–1902, indicating the variety received sustained evaluation across multiple states including Iowa, Maine, Arkansas, South Dakota, and New York during the period of Russian variety testing in North America.