97 



PROMISING NEW FRUITS. 359 



RABUN APPLE. 



(SYNONYMS: Rabun Bald; Rabun Ball, through typographical error.) 



[PLATE XXVII.] 



One of the most promising new apples for the lower Appalachian 

 region, comprising western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and 

 northern Georgia, is the Rabun. Its history as furnished by Prof. 

 C. C. Xewman, 6 of Clemson College, S. C.,is substantially as follows: 



The original tree was found about 1890 by Mr. Andy Hanby in clear- 

 ing land on his place on the Walhalla and Franklin wagon road, about 

 13 miles northeast of Clayton, Ga., where it still stands. It was 

 small when found, and is thought by Mr. Hanby to have been about 

 5 years old at that time. About 1900 Mr. Hanby dug up eight young 

 sprouts about the parent tree and planted them elsewhere, all of which 

 are now in bearing and are identical with the parent tree. Fruit from 

 the original tree was exhibited at the Georgia State Fair in 1904 and 

 1905 under the name " Rabun Bald," which was suggested by the 

 location of the tree, which is on a spur of Bald Mountain. It has 

 since been locally known under this name, which is here reduced to 

 Rabun to conform to the code of nomenclature of the American Porno- 

 logical Society. It was first described and illustrated by Prof. C. C. 

 Xewman c in 1905 in Bulletin 9 of the South Carolina Agricultural 

 Experiment Station. Some 2,500 trees of this variety have been 

 planted at Clayton, Ga., but aside from this it does not appear to have 

 been commercially disseminated. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Form oblate, slightly ribbed; size large; surface smooth; color yel- 

 low, washed with mixed red, splashed and striped with bright crimson; 

 dots numerous, small, russet; cavity large, regular, deep, russeted; 

 stem short, stout; basin regular, large, deep, of gradual slope, fur- 

 rowed; eye medium to large, closed; calyx segments medium, con- 

 verging, reflexed at tip, tube long, flaring; skin moderately thick, 

 tenacious: flesh yellowish, fine-grained, breaking, juicy; core large, 

 oblate, open, clasping; seeds medium, plump, brown, very numerous; 

 flavor subacid: quality good to very good. Season, Xovember to 

 March in northern Georgia. 



The tree is described as a stocky, vigorous grower, of spreading 

 habit, requiring severe pruning when young. The bearing habit is 

 distinctive in that the fruit is largely borne on spurs along the older 

 branches, the crop being thus quite evenly distributed throughout the 



a South Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 9, May, 1905, p. 24. 



& Letters of C. C. Xewman, January, 1907. 



c South Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 9, p. 24. 



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