Tolman Sweet

Tallman's Sweet.

This favorite baking apple of New England has traveled from Rhode Island wherever her hardy sons have gone westward.

Tree hardy, very productive.

Fruit medium to large, nearly round, somewhat flattened, regular; Surface smooth, yellow; Dots minute, dark; frequently a distinct line on one side from stem to eye.

Basin wide, regular, leather-cracked; Eye small, closed.

Cavity rather wide, regular; Stem medium size, long.

Core heart-shaped, regular, closed, clasping; Seeds numerous, plump, pointed, dark; Flesh yellow, breaking, firm; Flavor very sweet, rich; Quality good; Use, baking and stock; Season, December and January.

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

TOLMAN SWEET.

REFERENCES. 1. Thacher, 1822:139. 2. Buel, N. Y. Bd. Agr. Mem., 1826:476. 3. Manning, Mag. Hort., 7:50. 1841. 4. Downing, 1845:137. 5. Phoenix, Horticulturist, 1:361. 1846. 6. Thomas, 1849:162. 7. Hovey, Mag. Hort., 15:162. 1849. fig. 8. Cole, 1849:131. fig. 9. Emmons, Nat. Hist. N. Y., 3:87. 1851. fig. 10. Elliott, 1854:110. fig. 11. Gregg, 1857:60. fig. 12. Hooper, 1857:93. 13. Horticulturist, 17:150, 167. 1862. 14. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat., 1862. 15. Warder, 1867:557. fig. 16. Barry, 1883:355. 17. Lyon, Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1890:298. 18. Manning, Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt., 1891:137. 19. Taylor, Me. Pom. Soc. Rpt., 1892:57. 20. Bailey, An. Hort., 1892:251. 21. Woolverton, Ont. Fr. Assn. An. Rpt., 26:169. 1894. 22. Can. Hort., 17:229, 280. 1894. col. pl. 23. Hoskins, Rural N. Y., 53:310. 1894. 24. Atwood, Va. Sta. Bul., 130:125. 1901. 25. Waugh, Vt. Sta. An. Rpt., 14:311. 1901. 26. Hansen, S. D. Sta. Bul., 76:106. 1902. fig. 27. Budd-Hansen, 1903:189. fig. 28. Powell and Fulton, U. S. B. P. I. Bul., 48:58. 1903. 29. Beach and Clark, N. Y. Sta. Bul., 248:146. 1904.

SYNONYMS. Brown's Golden Sweet (10). TALLMAN'S SWEET (15). TALLMAN SWEET (26). Tollman Sweet (27). TALLMAN SWEETING (2, 6, 11). Tollman's Sweeting (10). TALMAN SWEET (5, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23). TALMAN'S SWEET (14, 16, 19). Talman Sweet (28). TALMAN SWEETING (8). TALMAN'S SWEETING (9, 10, 12). TOLMAN (25, 28). TOLMAN SWEET (3, 13, 18, 24). Tolman Sweet (25, 28). TOLMAN'S SWEETING (4, 7). TOLMAN SWEETING (1). Tolman's Sweeting (6, 10).

Fruit medium or below, rather attractive for a yellow apple. It meets with little demand in the general market, but is sold to a limited extent in special markets and to special classes of trade. The fruit is generally much esteemed for certain culinary purposes as pickling, boiling and baking. Its keeping quality varies in different seasons. In ordinary storage it is in season from November to January with December as the commercial limit. In cold storage its commercial limit varies under different conditions from February 1 to April (29). Some find that it stands heat well before going into storage; others report that it does not. It shows bruises very readily and requires careful handling. The fruit hangs pretty well to the tree, is quite uniform in grade and suffers comparatively little loss in drops and culls. The tree is a good grower, long-lived and very hardy. Throughout Northern New York, Northern New England, certain portions of Canada and the northern portion of the apple belt in the prairie region of the Middle West, Tolman Sweet has gained the reputation of being one of the hardiest of the old New England varieties. For this reason it is often selected as a stock upon which to top-graft less hardy kinds. The tree comes into bearing at a moderately early age, and, generally speaking, is a reliable cropper, yielding from moderate to heavy crops biennially or sometimes almost annually.

Historical. Thacher's description of this variety is the earliest one of which we have any record. He was unable to trace it to its origin (1). Manning (18) in 1891 called attention to the correct orthography, the name having been differently spelled by various authors, and mentioned the supposition that the variety originated in Dorchester (Massachusetts). It has long been known in cultivation in New York and it appears that it is more generally grown in the home orchards of this state than any other sweet apple.

TREE.

Tree moderately vigorous. Form upright, very spreading, drooping, open; top roundish; branches long, moderately stout, curved and drooping. Twigs medium to long, straight or bowed, stout; internodes medium to short. Bark clear brownish mingled with olive-green, lightly streaked with scarf-skin, heavily pubescent. Lenticels rather conspicuous, scattering, medium or above, roundish or oval, not raised. Buds medium in size, broad, plump, obtuse, appressed, pubescent.

FRUIT.

Fruit commonly averages below medium but sometimes grows rather large. It is pretty uniform in size and shape. Form nearly globular or varying to roundish conical or to roundish oblate, often inclined to elliptical or obscurely ribbed. Stem medium to rather long, slender. Cavity obtuse to acute, broad, deep, often russeted, often obscurely furrowed yet pretty symmetrical. Calyx medium to small, somewhat open or sometimes closed; lobes often long and acuminate. Basin small to medium, often oblique, moderately shallow to moderately deep, medium in width, rather abrupt, furrowed, wrinkled, sometimes compressed.

Skin tough, often marked by a suture line extending out from the cavity, sometimes reaching even to the basin; color pale clear yellow or whitish-yellow, sometimes a little blushed. Dots small, inconspicuous, pale yellow or faint russet. The skin is apt to be roughened slightly by very inconspicuous capillary russet lines over the entire surface, becoming heavier and concentric at the basin.

Calyx tube urn-shape to truncate funnel-form. Stamens basal or nearly so. Core medium to rather small, axile; cells symmetrical, closed; core lines slightly clasping. Carpels rather flat, broadly roundish, slightly emarginate, tufted. Seeds medium in size, wide, plump, acute to somewhat obtuse, tufted.

Flesh white, firm, neither tender nor crisp, rather hard, moderately fine, rather dry to moderately juicy, decidedly sweet, good to very good.

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

Tolman Sweet. M r gy VG W 19* 18*

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

Tolman Sweet.* Medium or rather large, roundish-oblate slightly conical; clear light yellow, with a clear brownish line from stalk to apex; stalk nearly an inch long; calyx in a distinct, slightly wrinkled basin; flesh white, firm, rich, very sweet. Excellent for winter baking. Keeps into spring. Young tree vigorous, upright, shoots becoming spreading; leaves wavy. Fig. 406. Productive. Hardy. Rhode Island.

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