NO. 72. LARGE YELLOW NEWTON PIPPIN.

This is in most of its varieties the finest apple of our country, and probably of the world. It varies much in quality, with soil, aspect, cultivation, climate and age: although peculiarly adapted to strong high ground, it may be raised in great perfection on all good wheat and clover land—the better the soil, the finer will be the fruit; for the growth is not vigorous, and in every soil the bark has a rough appearance—the form is rather flat, the size large, the skin a greenish yellow, with black clouds, and frequently with red spots or blotches—the ends are hollowed, the stem short, the flesh rich, yellow, juicy, breaking and highly flavoured; it ripens in November, and is often kept till May and June—it is a superior table fruit, and an excellent kitchen and cider apple—it will produce fine apples on even a light sandy soil, aided by the application of river or meadow mud as a manure, two or three cart loads to a tree. The tree does not arrive to maturity until twenty or twenty-five years, the cider produced from it is highly flavoured, but not so strong as many other kinds.

— William Coxe, A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees (1817)

YELLOW NEWTOWN.

The origin of this variety of the Newtown Pippin, which has obtained such a world-wide notoriety as the "American Apple," is very uncertain. The distinction between this and the Green Newtown, as described under Class III, I, 2, 1, was well known to Coxe.

Tree resembling that of the Green variety, slow grower in the nursery, having rough bark when old, not an early bearer, but large, spreading, and productive, and in suitable soils profitable. From some cause, however, the orchards of both these apples are much less satisfactory in their results than formerly in many parts of the country. Still it is often seen in great perfection, and I am compiling this description from outlines and notes of a large number that were very fine.

Fruit large, round, more or less modified by being cylindrical, truncated, lop-sided, ribbed, and irregular, sometimes even conic; Surface smooth, yellowish-green, sometimes bronzy, becoming yellow when ripe, like the White Pippin, it is marked with gray stripes near the base while green; Dots minute, scattered, whitish bases.

Basin large, folded, ribbed or plaited; Eye medium, rather open.

Cavity deep, acute, brown; Stem medium or short, rarely long.

Core medium, oval, regular, closed, meeting or clasping the eye; Seeds pointed, brown, sometimes imperfect; Flesh yellow, firm, breaking, juicy, not crisp like the Green variety; Flavor acid, aromatic, rich, very agreeable; Quality best; Use, table, kitchen, market and cider; Season, March.

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

Yellow Newtown Pippin.

Albemarle Pippin.

The Yellow Newtown Pippin is handsomer in appearance, and has a higher perfume than the Green or Newtown Pippin, and its flesh is rather firmer, and equally high flavored ; while the Green is more juicy, crisp, and tender. The Yellow Newtown Pippin is rather flatter, measuring only about two inches deep, and it is always quite oblique — projecting more on one side of the stalk than the other. When full ripe it is yellow, sometimes with a rather lively red cheek, and a smooth skin, few or none of the spots on the Green variety, but with the same russet marks at the stalk. It is also more highly fragrant before and after it is cut than the Green. The flesh is firm, crisp, juicy, and with a very rich and high flavor. Both the Newtown Pippins grow alike, and they are both excellent bearers. This variety is rather hardier and succeeds best. February to May.

— A.J. Downing, The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America (1900)

YELLOW NEWTOWN.

TREE.

Tree more vigorous and more erect than that of Green Newtown the branches growing more freely, the laterals showing less tendency to droop and the twigs averaging somewhat longer than is the case with the Green Newtown, otherwise we find that the two varieties, as Downing says (10) "grow alike."

FRUIT.

The technical description of the fruit of the Green Newtown applies well to the Yellow Newtown in all points excepting the color of the fruit and the color and flavor of the flesh. At fruit harvest the Yellow Newtown is distinguishable from the Green Newtown because both the yellow and the pink tones are more highly developed. When they are fully mature the more highly colored apples are bright yellow often with distinct pinkish blush, especially about the base. Less highly colored fruit is greenish-yellow shaded more or less with duller brownish-pink through which narrow streaks of the ground color often appear, combining with the streaks of whitish scarf-skin to give a somewhat striped effect. In general appearance it is decidedly more attractive than the Green Newtown, and its flesh is apt to be more distinctly tinged with yellow, milder, less sprightly and more highly aromatic.

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

Yellow Newtown

The Yellow Newtown is one of the best, if not the best, commercial yellow apples. In pomological literature it is often called Newtown Pippin, Yellow Newtown Pippin and Albemarle Pippin. There is also a Green Newtown, which resembles the Yellow Newtown so closely in all except color that it is difficult if not impossible to distinguish between them in any other way. As its name indicates, the Green Newtown is not so deep a yellow as the Yellow Newtown, especially at the time of picking, but later it takes on a rather deep yellow. It is impossible with the information we have to tell which was the original. Beach says: "It is now believed that Albemarle Pippin is Yellow Newtown, and Brooke Pippin is identical with Green Newtown." Both varieties differ greatly in size, color and quality in different locations. The Yellow Newtown has been most successful in the Piedmont section, Virginia, in the high lands of California, Rogue River, Oregon, Hood River, Oregon, and Yakima and Wenatchee valleys, Washington. There are doubtless other sections where it can be as successfully grown as in the places named, but in these sections it has been tested and proven commercially very successful.

Tree rather a slow grower. Form spreading or roundish, rather dense. Twigs medium in length and thickness, pubescent near the tips. Bark clear, dark, brownish red, lightly streaked with scarf skin. Fruit medium to very large, pretty uniform in size but rather variable in coloring. This rule, however, does not apply in the Pacific Northwest, where the coloring is more uniform. Form of fruit roundish oblate and more or less angular. Skin rather tough, smooth, yellowish at harvest with a tendency to a pink blush on the sunny side. Season from February to May.

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

Albemarle Pippin. Fruit, medium or large, round, yellow, with brown specks; flesh, pale yellow, sub-acid. Grown in Virginia; keeps well. (Thomas.)

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

Yellow Newtown Pippin.* Medium, or rather large, roundish, oblate and oblique, more or less flattened; yellow, with a brownish red cheek, purplish before ripe; stalk very short; flesh firm, crisp, with a rich, mild flavor. Closely resembles the Green Newtown Pippin, and believed by many to be identical, differing only by a warmer exposure. It is fairer in some localities than the Green, but is usually inferior to it in flavor. C. Downing gives the following distinguishing points between these two sub-varieties: "The Yellow is handsomer, and has a higher perfume than the Green, and its flesh is rather firmer and equally high flavored; while the Green is more juicy, crisp, and tender. The Yellow is rather flatter, measuring only about two inches deep, and it is always quite oblique—projecting more on one side of the stalk than the other. When fully ripe, it is yellow, with a rather lively red cheek and a smooth skin, few or none of the spots on the Green variety, but the same russet marks at the stalk. It is also more highly fragrant before and after it is cut than the Green. The flesh is firm, crisp, juicy, and with a rich and high flavor." Fig. 482.

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

Yellow Newtown (Albemarle Pippin). — Supposed origin, Newtown, L. I., in the early part of the eighteenth century. It is not definitely known whether the original tree was of the "Green" or the "Yellow" type, nor is a record known of the distinct origin of the two. Coxe, in 1817, first described them as distinct. The Yellow Newtown has now almost superseded the Green Newtown for commercial orchards and exportation, owing to its superiority in size, color, and keeping capacity; both are successfully grown in but few portions of the United States. Choice consignments of Yellow Newtown or Albemarle Pippins often sell in England for two or three times the price of other American apples.

The following description of Yellow Newtown was made from choice specimens from Virginia at the Pan American Exposition:

Fruit large, heavy, roundish cylindrical to roundish oblate, somewhat angular, sometimes inclined; surface yellowish green, overlaid with suffused whitish veinings and roughened by dots and net-veinings of russet, rarely a bronze blush; dots distinct, numerous, minute, russet, a few large russet specks, often some red blotches; cavity regular, wide, deep, obtuse, with large stellate russet extending out over base; stem short; basin wide, ribbed, medium deep to rather shallow; calyx open; segments flat convergent. Core barely clasping, closed; cells ovate, widely slit, with large cellular exudate; tube funnel-shaped; stamens basal; seeds long, sharp-pointed; flesh firm, very juicy, yellow, sprightly subacid.

Downing wrote: "The Yellow Newtown Pippin is handsomer in appearance and has a higher perfume than the Green or Newtown Pippin, and its flesh is rather firmer, and equally high-flavored; while the Green is more juicy, crisp, and tender. The Yellow Newtown Pippin is rather flatter, measuring only about two inches deep, and it is always quite oblique — projecting more on one side of the stalk than the other. When fully ripe it is yellow, sometimes with a rather lively red cheek, and a smooth skin, few or none of the spots on the Green variety, but with the same russet marks at the stalk. It is also more highly fragrant before and after it is cut than the Green. The flesh is firm, crisp, juicy, and with a very rich and high flavor. Both the Newtown Pippins grow alike, and they are both excellent bearers. This variety is rather hardier and succeeds best. February to May."

— J.L. Budd & N.E. Hansen, American Horticultural Manual, Part II: Systematic Pomology (1914)

NEWTOWN PIPPIN. New York, p. 146. G., Köstliche Reinette von Newtown. (Albermarle, Hampshire Greening.) Dessert, till March, fairly large, 3¼ by 2¼, flattened round, fairly regular. Colour, straw yellow. Flesh, very crisp, yellowish-green, of rich pineapple flavour. Eye, closed in a shallow basin. Stem, slender, in a rather deep russet lined cavity. Growth, moderate; fertility, poor in England. Leaf, large, flat, down-curved, coarsely bi-serrate. Originated at Long Island, early in the eighteenth century, and introduced to this country about 1760. This apple does not attain to the same flavour in this country as in America, even under the most favourable conditions. There is a green variety considered distinct, in which the fruits do not have the rich yellow and faint orange flush of this variety.

— E.A. Bunyard, A Handbook of Hardy Fruits (1920)

YELLOW NEWTOWN: See Green Newtown.

— U.P. Hedrick, Cyclopedia of Hardy Fruits (1922)