Volume 52 Number 2 Article 16 Pages: 66-71
Year 1998 Month 4
Title: The ´Northern Spy` Apple
Author: F.G. Dennis Jr.
Citation
Abstract:
The exact origin of the cultivar is somewhat obscure.
According to Upshall (35)
the original seedling was probably planted
by Oliver Chapin of Salisbury, CT, on a
300 acre tract that he had purchased near
E. Bloomfield in Ontario County, NY, in
1790. In 1800, Heman Chapin, a brother
of Oliver, bought land nearby and either
planted seed brought from Connecticut or
transplanted some of Oliver's seedlings to
his own farm.
Roswell Humphrey,
Heman's brother-in-law, also bought land
adjacent to Heman's, and planted vigorous suckers arising from the root system
of one of the original seedlings whose top
portion had died.
These eventually fruited, giving rise to the 'Northern Spy.' A
slightly different version is found in the
account of J.H. Watts (23, p. 104), who
quotes from a letter from Oliver Chapin
dated 20 January 1847. Chapin indicates
that the cultivar originated from seeds
brought to New York from Connecticut by
Elijah Taylor about 1800, that the "original tree" was set by Heman Chapin, and
that Roswell Humphrey took sprouts from
this tree, which died before having borne
fruit.
Whatever the exact circumstances,
the first 'N. Spy' fruits were Humphrey's.
A marker was placed on the farm
in 1964 to commemorate this cultivar, although no orchard existed there as of
1965.
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