38 APPLES AND PEACHES IN THE OZARK REGION. 



Huntsman. Synonym: Huntsman's Favorite. 



This variety was brought to notice by a Mr. Whetworth, of Missouri, who refers to 

 it as follows : x 



I brought it into notice in 1843. I found the apple in Johnson County. It was 

 brought from Lexington. I went upon a visit to Cincinnati in 1844 and exhibited it 

 there. They thought much of it and got some grafts. It is the finest apple in the county. 

 A man named Huntsman moved to Missouri; he stopped at old Franklin; a friend gave 

 him some seedlings he had raised; he planted them out, and this was one of them. 

 The trees were 23 or 24 years old when I saw them. Mr. Mock, of Lexington, got them. 

 They keep a long time. They are pale green, turning to a beautiful orange, clear. It 

 was named after Mr. Huntsman, who grew it. 



While some of the points in this historical sketch are net entirely clear, especially 

 as to the locations referred to, it fixes the date of the origin as about 1820. It has been 

 quite extensively planted in the commercial orchards of this region, especially in 

 Missouri, and in this respect it ranks as one of the important commercial late fall 

 and winter sorts. 



The tree grows well, and it is productive under favorable conditions; but the fruit 

 is very susceptible to bitter-rot and is frequently seriously attacked by apple scab, 

 so that as a rule very close attention to spraying is necessary in order to protect the 

 fruit from these diseases. When properly managed, it develops in this region to a 

 high degree of perfection and is generally considered a desirable variety to grow, but 

 it probably requires higher cultural conditions than most other sorts to bring it to per- 

 fection. The fruit is yellow, frequently with a bronzed blush on the exposed side; 

 flesh yellow, subacid, rich; quality good to very good. 

 Ingram. 2 



This variety originated on the farm of Mr. Martin Ingram, located about 6 miles 

 northeast of Springfield, Mo., from a seed of the Ralls, which was planted in the door- 

 yard about 1850 by his son, John B. Ingram. No particular attention appears to 

 have been given to the original tree until it came to the notice of Mr. D. S. Holman, 

 of Springfield, in 1864, when he found some good, crisp apples in March lying on the 

 ground under this tree. Later Mr. Martin Ingram divided the scions from this tree 

 among three nurserymen, D. S. Holman, J. M. Roundtree, and A. G. McCracken. 

 It was understood that they were to sell the trees at the average price which was being 

 paid for other varieties. The first commercial orchard of this variety was set out 

 near Springfield by Mr. L. K. Haseltine, who now has about 250 acres of it. It has 

 been widely planted in the portion of the Ozark region which lies between the Missouri 

 and Arkansas Rivers. 



The tree is very upright in habit of growth while young, but it becomes more spread- 

 ing as it attains age and as the branches are bent downward by weight of the fruit. 

 It has made a good reputation in this region for productiveness, though under usual 

 cultural conditions it is quite distinctly alternate in its fruiting proclivities. Consid- 

 erable irregularity in bearing among the trees in the same orchard has frequently been 

 noted. This applies to the size of the fruit as well as to the quantity produced. The 

 tree is generally healthy. A well-grown tree of the variety is shown in figure 4. In a 

 few instances serious blighting of the blossoms has been observed, caused presumably 

 by the same organism that produces twig-blight, but this does not appear to be a fre- 

 quent occurrence. 



The fruit is usually of medium size and "good to very good" in dessert quality. 

 Like the Givens, it is very late in reaching maturity and makes considerable of its 

 growth after most of the other late sorts commonly grown are ripe enough to harvest. 



i Proceedings of the Missouri State Horticultural Society, 1868, p. 376. 



2 For a complete history and description of this variety, see Yearbook of the U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture for 1901, p. 382. 

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