More info
An excerpt from Beach’s Apples of New York, Volume 1:
GREEN NEWTOWN AND YELLOW NEWTOWN PIPPIN.
The Green Newtown and the Yellow Newtown are here discussed together because they are so much alike that it is highly probable that one is but a sport or strain of the other. At this time it is impossible to determine which of the two was the original Newtown Pippin. It is now believed that Albemarle is Yellow Newtown and Brooke Pippin is possibly identical with Green Newtown. In pomological literature the name Newtown Pippin has often been used in such a way that it is uncertain whether the writer had in mind the Yellow Newtown or the Green Newtown, and the correct synonymy cannot be accurately determined in all cases. On this account, the names as given by the different writers are stated in the above nomenclatural list without indicating whether or not they are used correctly except in the case of Leroy (24). Both the Green Newtown and the Yellow Newtown differ markedly in size, color and quality in different locations and their successful cultivation is probably more limited by local conditions than is the case with any other standard commercial variety grown in this state. They are success- fully and extensively grown in certain localities in the Hudson valley and along the north shore of Long Island, but usually neither of them is regarded as desirable for commercial planting west of the Hudson valley.
Under favorable conditions the trees come into bearing young and are reliable croppers yielding good crops biennially or sometimes oftener. The fruit hangs well to the tree. It is quite susceptible to the scab and requires thorough treatment to hold this disease in check particularly when grown on heavy clay soils. Unless grown on fertile soils and under good cultivation with insect pests and fungous diseases kept well under control there is often a comparatively high percentage of ill-shaped, uneven and low-grade fruit. Under favor- able conditions the fruit grows large or sometimes very large and is fairly uniform in size although somewhat variable in form and coloring. It has a long established reputation in Europe and commands the best prices paid there for American apples. It is firm, keeps very late and ships well. The crop is largely exported. In ordinary storage its commercial season is February to March; in cold storage March to May. The fruit is of the highest quality for dessert and excellent for culinary uses. Cider made from it is very clear and of high quality, and in the early days large quantities of the fruit were used for this purpose.
Historical. The excellent historical account of the Yellow Newtown and the Green Newtown given by Taylor (32) is reproduced here:
The “Newtown Pippin” was the first American apple which attracted attention in Europe. After the receipt of specimens by Franklin while in London in 1759, and -the subsequent sending of grafts to Collinson by John Bartram, numerous attempts were made to grow the variety in England. As early as 1768 it was cultivated in the Brompton Park nursery under the name Newtown Pippin of New York."
It is probable that the large apple exports of 1773 included considerable quantities of the Newtown, for it was at that time quite generally distributed through the apple-growing districts of the Atlantic slope. Thomas Jefferson recorded in his "Garden Book" that in March, 1773, grafts of "Newtown Pippin,'' received from Mordecai Debnam, at Sandy Point, were ingrafted by P. Morton," and in March, 1778, he noted that the grafted trees were planted out at Monticello.
Prior to 1803 Forsyth said of the variety in England,1"The New-Town Pippin is a fine apple in good season, but seldom ripens with us. It is held in great esteem in America." McMahon,2in 1806 included Newtown Pippin in his select list of Long-keeping apples and also in a list of Cyder apples."
Previous to 1817 we have no record that more than one type of the Newtown was recognized, but Coxe,3whose work appeared in that year, described as distinct varieties the Large Yellow Newtown Pippin and the Green Newtown Pippin," characterizing the latter as kind." Since the time of Coxe the two types have been recognized as distinct by our leading American pomologists, though fruit growers are by no means unanimous on this point.
The original seedling tree of Newtown Pippin is alleged to have stood near a swamp on the estate of Gershom Moore, in Newtown, Long Island, until about 1805, when it died from excessive cutting of cions and exhaustion. Its origin is credited to the early part of the eighteenth century. It is not clear at this time whether the original tree was of the "green" or the "yellow" type, nor has any record of a distinct origin of the two been discovered.
The Yellow Newtown has for many years been considered the better apple for exportation, however, and in commercial orchards has almost superseded the Green Newtown on account of its larger size, brighter color, and better keeping quality.
Both sorts are exceedingly variable and susceptible to the influence of soil, climate, elevation above sea level, etc. They are successfully grown in but few portions of the apple-producing area of the United States at the present time, the principal localities being the lower portion of the Hudson River valley in New York, the Piedmont and mountain regions of Virginia and North Carolina, and portions of California, Oregon and Washington.
Though first grown in commercial orchards in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the excellent quality of the fruit from some of the Patowmack counties of Virginia
In Albemarle county, Va., where it reached a high degree of perfection, it became known as the "Albemarle Pippin" at an early day, and was for many years considered a distinct variety, of local origin, and was so propagated.
An export trade in the fruit from Albemarle county was inaugurated under favorable auspices by a happy circumstance which occurred in the first year of the reign of Queen Victoria. The account below^ is kindly furnished by Mr. Samuel B. Woods, president of the Virginia Horticultural Society.