Smokehouse

SMOKEHOUSE.

REFERENCES. 1. Horticulturist, 2:482, 570. 1848. 2. Brinckle, Ib., 3:333. 1849. fig. 3. Thomas, 1849:152. 4. Horticulturist, 4:340, 414. 1850. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat., 1852. 6. Horticulturist, 7:475. 1852. 7. Mag. Hort., 19:68. 1853. 8. Hovey, Ib., 22:558. 1856. fig. 9. Horticulturist, 11:289. 1856. 10. Downing, 1857:104. 11. Hooper, 1857:85. 12. Hoffy, N. A. Pom., 1860. col. pl. 13. Horticulturist, 15:184. 1860. 14. Warder, 1867:732. 15. Fitz, 1872:143, 153. 16. Leroy, 1873:815. figs. 17. Barry, 1883:355. 18. Wickson, 1889:244. 19. Lyon, Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1890:296. 20. Bailey, An. Hort., 1892:249. 21. Hicks, Rural N. Y., 53:205. 1894. 22. Alwood, Va. Sta. Bul., 130:6. 1901. 23. Dickens and Greene, Kan. Sta. Bul., 106:55. 1902. 24. Bruner, N. C. Sta. Bul., 182:22. 1903. 25. Budd-Hansen, 1903:177. fig.

SYNONYMS. English Vandevere (10). GIBBONS SMOKEHOUSE (1). Millcreek Vandevere (4, 9, 10, 16). Red Vandevere (16). SMOKE HOUSE (1, 2). Vandevere (12). Vandevere English (16).

Fruit uniform in size, symmetrical and attractive in appearance when well colored; but too often its color lacks character, being neither distinctly yellow nor distinctly red. It is a very pleasant flavored dessert apple but hardly acid enough for most culinary uses. The tree is a good, vigorous grower, healthy, hardy and usually a reliable cropper, alternating good with moderate crops. It comes into bearing moderately young. The fruit hangs well to the tree. It is somewhat subject to apple scab and requires thorough preventive treatment to insure clean fruit. The tree tends to form a rather dense head and requires frequent pruning to keep the top sufficiently open to develop fruit of good color and good quality. Some fruit growers regard it with favor as a commercial variety on account of its being reliably productive and yielding a very good grade of smooth fruit; but it is not grown extensively in any part of the state, and, so far as we can learn, its cultivation is not being extended.

Historical. Originated with William Gibbons, Lampeter township, Lancaster county, Pa. (2, 12). It took its name from the fact that the original tree grew near his smokehouse. It was brought to notice about 1837 by Ashbridge though it had long before been propagated in a nursery near the locality of its origin. It is supposed to be a seedling of the old Vandevere of Delaware and Pennsylvania as it much resembles that variety; in fact Elliott fell into the error of calling it identical with Vandevere.¹ It has been grown more extensively in New Jersey and Pennsylvania than it has in this state. It is cultivated to a limited extent in many portions of New York but is not generally known among New York fruit growers.

TREE.

Tree medium to large, vigorous. Form roundish to wide-spreading, dense; lateral branches willowy, slender. Twigs moderately long, straight, slender; internodes long. Bark reddish-brown mingled with olive-green, lightly streaked with scarf-skin, slightly pubescent. Lenticels very scattering, oblong, not raised. Buds set deeply in bark, medium in size, broad, flat, obtuse, appressed, pubescent.

FRUIT.

Fruit above medium to large, uniform in size and shape. Form roundish oblate or approaching oblate conic, rather regular, symmetrical or nearly so. Stem medium to long, slender. Cavity acute to acuminate, medium to rather deep, moderately narrow to rather wide, sometimes gently furrowed, often thinly russeted. Calyx large, open or nearly so; lobes often flat, convergent, separated at the base. Basin moderately shallow to rather deep, rather wide, sometimes compressed, somewhat abrupt, slightly wrinkled.

¹ Elliott, 1854:113.

Skin thin, tough, smooth or slightly roughened with capillary russet lines and russet dots; color yellow or greenish mottled with rather dull red, sometimes deepening to a solid bright red, indistinctly mottled, striped and splashed with carmine. Dots generally conspicuous, large, irregular, gray or russet, becoming smaller and more numerous about the basin. Prevailing effect greenish-yellow, but in highly colored specimens, red.

Calyx tube rather wide, short, obtusely cone-shape or approaching funnelform. Stamens median to basal.

Core rather small, axile or nearly so; cells symmetrical, closed or partly open; core lines meeting or with funnel-form calyx tube, clasping. Carpels flat, broadly elliptical to roundish or somewhat cordate, usually smooth. Seeds few, very dark, large, narrow, long, acute to acuminate, sometimes tufted.

Flesh slightly tinged with yellow, rather firm, moderately fine, crisp, moderately tender, juicy, mild subacid, delicately aromatic, with an agreeable but not high flavor, good.

Season October to February or March.

— S.A. Beach, The Apples of New York, Vol. 1 (1905)

Smokehouse ..... L | rob | yf | G | b | W | 1* | 12* | 2*

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

Gibbon's Smathhouse, Gibbon's Smokehouse, Smathhouse, Millcreek Vandervere, English Vandervere, Millcreek.

Origin, Lancaster Co., Pa. Has been in cultivation about twenty years. Tree, a free grower, bearing early and abundantly. Fruit, above medium ; flat ; red, striped and mottled on greenish yellow ; stem, short, slender ; cavity, narrow ; calyx, closed ; basin, shallow ; core, medium ; seeds, long, brown ; flesh, yellowish white, crisp, juicy, delicate, aroma agreeable October, November.

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

Smokehouse.* Medium or rather large, oblate, regular; mottled, and indistinctly striped with red on yellow ground; a slight greenish cast at the crown; stalk one inch long, slender, cavity wide, acute; basin rather distinct; flesh yellowish white, rich, aromatic, fine sub-acid flavor. Mid-autumn to winter. Origin, Chester County, Pa. Succeeds in the Middle States.

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