Ralls Janet

A late-blooming Virginia apple known by about 1800; in Japan, as Kokko, it became a parent of Fuji

Ralls Janet, painted by Deborah Griscom Passmore in 1897 for the US Department of Agriculture. Deborah Griscom Passmore. U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705. Source; public domain.

Origin: farm of Caleb Ralls, Amherst County, Virginia, United States, about 1800
Parentage: Parents unknown
Uses: Dessert, Cooking, Cider
Picked: October, in Brogdale, Kent
Keeps: December to May in ordinary storage, April being the commercial limit (New York, 1905)
Skin: Smooth; yellow or greenish, blushed and mottled with pinkish red and faintly striped with dull carmine, under a light bloom
Flesh: Whitish, firm, moderately fine-grained, crisp and juicy
Flavour: Subacid with a little sweetness; aromatic
Ploidy: Diploid
Also called: Ralls Genet; Rawles Janet; Rawle's Janet; Ralls; Kokko; Jeniton; Geniton; Neverfail; Never Fail; Rock Rimmon; Rockrimmon; Rock Remain; Rockremain; Jefferson Pippin; Genet; Geneton; Gennetin; Genneting; Gennetting; Ginet; Indiana Janetting; Indiana Jannetting; Janet; Janet de Rawle; Janetting; Jennett; Jennette; Jenniton; Missouri Janet; Raul's Genetting; Raul's Gennetting; Raule Jannet; Raule's Genet; Raule's Janet; Raule's Janett; Raule's Janette; Raule's Jannating; Raule's Jannet; Raule's Janneting; Raule's Jannette; Raule's Jannetting; Raule's Jennetting; Rawl's Janet; Rawle's Genet; Rawle's Gennett; Rawle's Gennetting; Rawle's Janett; Rawle's Jannet; Rawle's Jennet; Rawle's Jenneting; Rawle's Jennette; Rawles' Jannet; Red Never Fail; Red Neverfail; Royal Janette; Winter Genneting; Winter Jannetting; Winter Jounetting; Yellow Janett; Yellow Janette

History

The first thing definitely known of this apple, Beach wrote, is that trees of it grew on the farm of Caleb Ralls in Amherst County, Virginia, a little over a century before 1905¹; the National Fruit Collection says it was first known about 1800⁴. Beach found no evidence whether it arose there or was brought in, and thought it probably a Virginia seedling¹. In 1871 Howsley wrote that Genet, then the French minister, had brought it from France to Jefferson, but Beach noted that the story seemed not to have been printed until about a century after the event, that no record confirmed it, and that its truth “seems problematical”¹.

From Virginia it spread south into the Carolinas and Georgia, north into southern Michigan and west across the Mississippi valley to the Ozarks and beyond¹. Warder called it “this famous southern apple”, and reported that some planters advised fifty trees of it in an orchard of a hundred³. Across the Ben Davis regions it was valued for home use and had a recognised place in the market, under the names Jeniton and Ralls Janet and less often Neverfail and Rock Rimmon¹.

In Japan, where it is called Kokko (国光), it has been used extensively as a parent in breeding⁷. When the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry opened a branch station at Fujisaki, Aomori, in 1938, chiefly to breed apples, Kokko and Kogyoku, as Jonathan is known there, made up as much as 80 per cent of the apples grown, and for a long time the breeders could not find a seedling to better Kokko^6,7. Crossed with Delicious, it gave Fuji, a parentage that SNP data confirm; the same data show it to be a parent of Horei, Kyokko and Shinko⁵. The National Fruit Collection lists further offspring, among them Fukunishiki, Megumi and New Fuji⁴. When apple prices collapsed around 1968, Kokko and Kogyoku were the varieties worst hit; growers dumped fruit they could not sell in the hills and rivers, and Fuji soon outgrew both⁶.

The fruit

Beach found the fruit below medium to above in size, roundish oblate to roundish conic¹. The smooth skin is yellow or greenish, blushed and mottled with pinkish red and faintly striped with dull carmine; a light bloom and broken streaks of whitish scarf-skin give it a rather dull look¹. The flesh is whitish, firm, moderately fine-grained, crisp and juicy, subacid “with a slight mingling of sweet”, aromatic and very good for dessert¹.

It keeps well and holds its flavour: in New York it lasted from December to May in ordinary storage, April being the commercial limit¹. At Brogdale, Kent, it begins to flower around 13 May and is picked in late October⁴.

Growing

The tree leafs out and blossoms later than most varieties, so it can escape late spring frosts and often sets a crop when earlier-flowering sorts fail; Downing thought it particularly valuable for the South and Southwest for this reason^1,2,3. It tends to overbear: young trees often crop every year, but older ones often become biennial or occasional croppers, so laden in bearing years that the fruit is small, or, as Warder put it, small and insipid^1,3. Ralls Janet is diploid⁵.

Uses

Beach rated it very good for dessert¹, and Warder listed its uses as dessert, kitchen, market and cider³.

Where the sources disagree

The grower’s name. Beach and the National Fruit Collection name Caleb Ralls^1,4; Downing names Caleb Rawle².
In the North. Downing wrote that it had not succeeded well in the North, and Warder that it was not hardy in the Northwest^2,3; Beach found that it often reached fairly good quality as far north as Western New York and southern Michigan¹.
Size. Downing called the fruit rather large²; Beach found it below medium to above¹, and the National Fruit Collection records it as small to medium⁴.

Family tree

Offspring in the atlas

Admiral × Jonathan; United Kingdom, about 1921
Amanishiki × Indo; Japan, 1936
Fuji × Delicious; Japan, 1939
Fukunishiki × Delicious; Japan, 1933
Fukutami × Jonathan; Japan, 1933
Horei × Golden Delicious; Japan, 1931
Kyokko × McIntosh; Japan, 1931
Megumi × Jonathan; Japan, 1931
Shinko × Jonathan; Japan, 1931

22 varieties in the atlas descend from Ralls Janet.

Where Ralls Janet came from.

Sources

The Apples of New York, vol. I, pp. 270–272: Ralls, S. A. Beach, New York Agricultural Experiment Station, Internet Archive, 1905. Supports: the synonyms, among them Ralls Genet, Rawle's Janet, Jeniton, Geniton, Neverfail, Rock Rimmon, Rockrimmon, Rock Remain, Jefferson Pippin and Missouri Janet (pp. 270–271); good quality as far north as Western New York and Southern Michigan; a good keeper holding its flavour late, in ordinary storage from December to May with April the commercial limit; in the Ben Davis regions held in high esteem for home use and with a recognised standing in market, grown as Jeniton or Ralls Janet and to a limited extent as Neverfail and Rock Rimmon; young trees often annual bearers, older trees biennial or occasional and so overloaded that the fruit is small (p. 271); a good crop set "on account of the lateness of its blooming season" when earlier varieties fail; little known among New York growers; trees first definitely known on the farm of Caleb Ralls in Amherst County, Virginia, "something over a hundred years ago"; no evidence whether a local seedling or an importation; Howsley's statement that it was brought from France to Jefferson by Genet, then minister from that country, not printed until about a century later and unverified, "its truth seems problematical"; "probably a Virginia seedling"; spread into the Carolinas and Georgia, Southern Michigan and across the Mississippi valley to and beyond the Ozarks; tree medium-sized, moderately vigorous; fruit below medium to above, roundish oblate to roundish conic; skin smooth, yellow or greenish blushed and mottled with pinkish red, indistinctly striped with dull carmine, with a light bloom and a rather dull look; flesh whitish, firm, moderately fine-grained, crisp, moderately tender, juicy, "subacid with a slight mingling of sweet", aromatic, very good for dessert (p. 272).
The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America, pp. 321–322: Rawle's Janet, A. J. Downing, revised by Charles Downing, John Wiley & Sons, Internet Archive, 1900. Supports: "Originated in Amherst Co., Va., on the farm of Caleb Rawle"; tree hardy, vigorous, spreading, putting out leaves and blossoms "much later than other varieties in the spring" and so escaping late frost, and therefore particularly valuable for the South and Southwest, where it was much grown; fruit rather large; "So far has not succeeded well at the North".
American Pomology: Apples, pp. 517–518: Rawle's Janet, J. A. Warder, Orange Judd, Internet Archive, 1867. Supports: "This famous southern apple" spread through the West and the Northwest, where it had not proved hardy; the fault of over-bearing, when the fruit is often small and insipid; some planters recommending fifty trees of it in an orchard of one hundred; blossoms appearing later than other sorts, so that they sometimes escape a spring frost; use "dessert, kitchen, market and cider".
Ralls Janet (accession 1953-133), National Fruit Collection, Brogdale, Kent (Defra). Supports: "Originated on the farm of Caleb Ralls in Amherst County, Virginia, USA. First known in about 1800."; all the synonyms given above except Kokko and Rockrimmon, among them Ralls Genet and Rawles Janet; mother (seed parent) of Fuji, Kyokko, Fukunishiki, Shinko, Amanishiki, Horei, Megumi and New Fuji, and father (pollen parent) of Fukutami; fruit small to medium, truncate conical, with a red, streaked and mottled over-colour on yellow; 10% flowering on 13 May and picking in late October at the collection.
Using whole-genome SNP data to reconstruct a large multi-generation pedigree in apple germplasm, Hélène Muranty and others, BMC Plant Biology 20:2, with Additional files 1 and 3, 2020. Supports: the documented parentage of Fuji, Ralls Janet × Delicious, in agreement with the SNP data; Rall's Janet confirmed as a parent of Horei (with Golden Delicious), Kyokko (with McIntosh) and Shinko (with Jonathan) (Table S3); Rall's Janet diploid (Table S1).
One hundred innovations of postwar Japan: the Fuji apple, how it came about (in Japanese), Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation. Supports: the Tohoku branch of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's Horticultural Research Station opened at Fujisaki, Aomori, in March 1938; at that time Kokko (国光) and Kogyoku (紅玉) the mainstream varieties, together reaching a share of 80 per cent; seedlings able to surpass Kokko hard to find; the collapse of apple prices around 1968 hitting Kokko and Kogyoku hardest, with growers dumping unsaleable apples in the hills and rivers; Fuji's output soon surpassing both.
Molecular Basis of Self-(in)compatibility and Current Status of S-genotyping in Rosaceous Fruit Trees, Hisayo Yamane and Ryutaro Tao, Journal of the Japanese Society for Horticultural Science 78(2): 137–157, 2009. Supports: p. 142: "'Jonathan (Kogyoku)'" and "'Ralls Janet (Kokko)'", among the cultivars that "have been extensively used as parents in breeding programs in Japan".