Northern Spy also called 'Spy' and 'King', is a

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

of domesticated

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

that originated on the farm of Oliver Chapin in East Bloomfield, New York, in about 1840. It is popular in

upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...

. The Northern Spy was one of four apples honored by the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

in a 2013 set of four 33¢ stamps commemorating historic strains, joined by Baldwin,

Golden Delicious Golden Delicious is a cultivar of apple. It is one of the 15 most popular apple cultivars in the United States. It is not closely related to Red Delicious. History Golden Delicious arose from a chance seedling, possibly a hybrid of Grimes ...

, and

Granny Smith The Granny Smith is an List of apple cultivars, apple cultivar that originated in Australia in 1868. It is named after Maria Ann Smith, who Fruit tree propagation, propagated the cultivar from a chance seedling. The tree is thought to be a Hybri ...

Description

Northern Spy produces fairly late in the season (late October and beyond). Skin color is a green ground, flushed with red stripes where not shaded. The white flesh is juicy, crisp and mildly sweet with a rich, aromatic subacid flavor, noted for high vitamin C content. Its characteristic flavor is tarter than most popular varieties, and its flesh is harder or crunchier than most, with a thin skin. Pomological Watercolor POM00000596

Uses

Northern Spy is commonly used for desserts and pies, as well as juice and

cider Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the Fermented drink, fermented Apple juice, juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and Ireland. The United Kingdom has the world's highest ...

. It is an excellent apple for storage, tending to last long due to late maturation.

Cultivation and history

The Northern Spy was discovered around 1800 in East Bloomfield, New York, south of

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

, as surviving sprouts of a seedling cultivated from stock brought in from

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

that had failed. The Wagener apple is believed to be one of its forebears. It fell somewhat out of favor due to its dull coloration, irregular shape, tendency of the thin skin to allow bruising, and lack of disease resistance, specifically to bitter pit and blossom fireblight, but resistant to woolly aphid and somewhat to scab. It is not widely available at retail outside its growing regions but still serves as an important processing apple in those areas. The Northern Spy is known for taking as much as a decade to bear fruit, unless grafted to a non-standard

rootstock A rootstock is part of a plant, often an underground part, from which new above-ground growth can be produced. It could also be described as a stem with a well developed root system, to which a bud from another plant is grafted. It can refer to ...

. In spite of this, it makes an excellent root stock for grafting other varieties to become standard-size trees. A Northern Spy apple tree figures in the poem "Conrad Siever" in Edgar Lee Masters' '' Spoon River Anthology'', and in the poetry of Chase Twichell, whose first book ''Northern Spy'' was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in 1981. A box of Northern Spies was sent to Senator

Joseph McCarthy Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican Party (United States), Republican United States Senate, U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death at age ...

by the news staff of the '' Toronto Globe and Mail'' in 1953 as a joke.

References

External links

Apple Use

USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection
{{Apples, state=collapsed American apples