North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Dan & Marilyn Mason" <dmason@rainyriver.lakeheadu.ca>]

I looked up KERR in the Boughen Nurseries, Valley River, Manitoba
R0L 2B0 catalog. Their comments were:

<KERR   Bright red crab, excellent for dark red jelly or canning.
A hardy healthy grower with shiny leaves. Fruit is red and long in
shape, crisp flesh ideal for canning, sauce and jelly. Will keep
well.>

The 'long in shape' bothered me. I looked up KERR in 'Ecological
Fruit Production for the North' by Hall-Beyer and Richard. Their
comments:

<Kerr   A dark red, 5cm apple which ripens in late September. Very
good, and it will keep for most of the winter.>

Here the 'keep for most of the winter' didn't fit. Picked into a
cardboard box and stored in a cool room they kept until Halloween,
here.

I looked up KERR in 'TREE FRUITS for the prairie provinces,'
Publication 1672 Agriculture Canada. Their comments:

<Kerr   (Dolgo x Haralson):   Fruit ripe in late September; about
4.5cm; attractive solid dark purple red; good for eating and as
jelly, excellent canner, good keeper. Developed at the
Experimental Farm, Morden, Man., 1952. Recommended for all
provinces.>

On page 10 of Publication 1672 are comparison photos taken from a
copy camera of 4 varieties of apples. KERR and DOLGO are 2 of
them. The KERR apples appear to be twice the diameter of DOLGO.
The KERR apples are not as perfectly spherical as the DOLGO, but
look round in shape, but the KERR apples are all stem on top from
directly over head, whereas the DOLGO apples are all on their
sides. So it isn't possible to rule out the 'long in shape'
comment from Boughen's catalog by this photo, but they give the
impression of being more round than long.

DOLGO is one of KERR's parents. DOLGO is spherical. I'm not
familiar with HARALSON to know if it is round or long in shape. Of
course even two rounded apple parents could have offspring with
'long in shape' fruit, or maybe KERR apples grow longer under
different conditions, although I can't remember ever hearing or
reading of an apple that grows in different shapes in different
locations.

Dan Mason   zone 3, NW ON, Canada


 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/