Webster

Origin. Webster originated from the sib cross, Station 26 x Station 19, made in 1912. Station 26 and 19 were both seedlings from the cross, Ben Davis x Jonathan. The breeding record number was 12559, and the seedling number was Station 2987. Webster was selected in 1921 from a population of 14 seedlings. After several years of refruiting in second test, it was introduced in 1938 (Table 2). It was named for the village of Webster, in Monroe County, New York. At the time of its introduction, it was described in News Release No. 4827 issued by the Station on February 22, 1939. Wellington (235) described the performance of the cross from which Webster originated. Webster was briefly described in the Register of New Fruit and Nut Varieties (31).

Tree. The tree characteristics of Webster are summarized in Table 5. The tree is large, vigorous, upright, tall, dense, vase form, and round-topped. The trunk is stocky, and the trunk bark is gray and moderately shaggy. The twigs are thick, medium in length, and pubescent. In Massachusetts, the principal identifying characters of 1-year-old nursery trees of Webster were described to aid in determining the trueness-to-name of new cultivars in the nursery row (232). Webster trees are noted for their productivity. They produce heavy crops annually (Table 5). Webster trees are somewhat subject to injury from low winter temperatures (124), and consequently should be planted only in areas where minimum temperatures do not fall below -20°F. In a German study of the susceptibility of apple cultivars to powdery mildew (189), Webster trees were found to be resistant or only slightly attacked.

Webster comes into bloom in midseason, 1 day earlier than Delicious (Table 6). It is triploid (Table 4). Pollination studies at the Station (238) showed that Webster does not have good pollen.

Fruit. The fruits of Webster are illustrated in Figure 38. The fruit characteristics are summarized in Table 8. The average harvest date at Geneva is September 30, 1½ weeks before Delicious (Table 7). The average number of days from full bloom to harvest is 136, 9 days fewer than Delicious. Fruit sizes are rather uniform. They are round, trim, and symmetrical. The stem is medium in length and thickness. The cavity is acute, deep, medium in width, russeted, and symmetrical. The calyx is somewhat open and large. The calyx lobes are medium in length, broad, and acute. The basin is deep, medium in width, abrupt, and very slightly furrowed.

The skin is thin, tender, smooth, dull, and sometimes has bumps on the surface, similar to that of Twenty Ounce. The color is 80 per cent attractive, medium dark red, indistinctly striped, lightly coated with bloom, and some scarfskin. The ground color is bright greenish yellow. The dots are light brown russet, few, large, and conspicuous. The calyx tube is short, wide, and conical, and the stamens are basal. The core is small and closed. The carpels are cordate. The seeds are few because it is triploid; they are small, wide, flat, and obtuse. The flesh is cream colored, with a slightly greenish tinge, firm, medium coarse-grained, somewhat juicy, sprightly, and slightly acid. Exposed flesh oxidizes slowly.

Webster is a processing type, though the processing qualities are not particularly good (Table 9). Apple growers need an early ripening processor. Webster may fill that need. Webster is not a high-quality eating apple. The storage life of Webster fruits is rather short, averaging about 70 days (Table 10). However, in some years, Webster keeps better than Delicious. Webster sometimes develops Jonathan spot in storage. Webster contains 13 mg ascorbic acid per 100 gm fruit, which compares with 37 for Calville Blanc and 4 for McIntosh 105.

Commercial Usefulness. Trees of Webster were sold by the New York State Fruit Testing Association for 25 years, 1938-62 (Table 2). In the 1960-68 period, Webster trees were not offered for sale by any commercial nursery (Table 3). There was no demand. In 1954, Webster was tested at experiment stations in Delaware, Iowa, Nova Scotia, and Oregon (186). In 1963, a survey of apple clones in the United States (79) showed that it was then tested at stations in Connecticut, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. In 1968 (184), it was tested at stations in Kansas, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

Webster was once stated to be one of the New York Station introductions which has found the greatest favor with American fruit growers (241). However, the fact is, it will never get to first base. Webster is a handsome cultivar ripening from mid-September through November. It fills a real need as a processing apple to replace Wealthy. Webster can compete satisfactorily with southern grown York Imperial apples which are frequently shipped into New York State for processing during October (115). Because of this, in 1956, Webster was one of the apple cultivars recommended for planting in New York State (10). However, in 1962, Webster was not being planted to any great extent in New York. In that year, there were 440,000 nonbearing apple trees under 8 years of age in western New York, and only 1 per cent of these were Webster (63).

Although Webster has rated only mediocre in processing tests, it is one of the best processing cultivars of its season. Its acid flavor precludes dessert adaptability. It produces good annual crops (114). In tests comparing the processing qualities of fruits of 35 apple cultivars (137), Webster ranked 10th among cultivars scoring above average in most processing quality factors.

Although Webster once had promise as an early ripening processor, processing factories will not begin operation until there is sufficient volume of fruit available to permit continuous canning. Therefore, there must be a large volume of Webster at its early date of maturity; i.e., the Wealthy season. This potential for large volume production of Webster does not exist.

As noted, in Ohio (75), Webster requires care in planting arrangement to insure pollination because it is a triploid. It is medium sized to large and is oblong conic in shape. The color is attractive, almost completely covered with dull to bright crimson. At Wooster, Ohio, Webster was less promising than Monroe. The tree is spreading (76), and the fruits are very large, rather acid, and only fair in quality.

In 1955, Webster was recommended for planting in Pennsylvania (50).

In Iowa (62), Webster trees yielded light crops of fruit. The fruits were large and red, the harvest time was 1 week before Jonathan, and the cultivar was of good commercial value.

In summary, Webster is suggested for planting by growers who are especially interested in early ripening processing cultivars. Otherwise, it is not recommended, because after years of testing, it has not won widespread favor among growers.

— Roger D. Way, Apple Cultivars Introduced by the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, 1914–1968 (1971)