Tompkins King

Brought from New Jersey to Tompkins County, New York, in 1804; a triploid with Esopus Spitzenburg as one parent

Tompkins King, painted by Deborah Griscom Passmore in 1892 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: Near Washington, Warren County, New Jersey, United States, before 1804
Parentage: Seedling of Esopus Spitzenburg SNP data (Larsen and others, 2025) identify Esopus Spitzenburg as one parent of this triploid, without saying whether it bore the seed; the other parent is unknown. Jacob Wycoff always held it to be a seedling.
Uses: Dessert, Cooking
Picked: October, in Brogdale, Kent
Keeps: Until December, or exceptionally January, in common storage, and usually February in cold storage (New York, 1905)
Skin: Smooth; yellow, mottled and washed with orange-red deepening to deep red, striped and splashed with bright carmine
Flesh: Yellowish, rather coarse, crisp, tender and juicy
Flavour: Subacid and aromatic; rich and vinous to Downing
Ploidy: Triploid
Also called: King; King of Tompkins County; Tompkins County King; King Apple; Winter King; Tom's Red; Tommy Red; Toma Red; Flat Spitzenburg

History

Tompkins King appears to have originated near Washington, in Warren County, New Jersey; Jacob Wycoff is said to have brought it from there to Tompkins County, New York, in 1804 and to have named it King^1,2. In 1860 James M. Mattison of Jacksonville, New York, traced it to the north side of the Musconetcong mountain, a mile and a half to two miles from Washington, where very old grafted trees stood and it was called Toma Red, though it had spread little¹. Wycoff had always said it was a seedling¹. A tree at Jacksonville that some took for the original was found by Bailey to have been grafted¹.

The earliest description Beach found, under the name King Apple, appeared in the New Genesee Farmer in 1842, and Ellwanger and Barry of Rochester offered trees in 1845¹. To distinguish it from other Kings, the Congress of Fruit Growers at Rochester added the county’s name¹; the National Fruit Collection dates the name King of Tompkins County to about 1855², and in 1856 the American Pomological Society listed it as Tompkins King¹.

By 1905 it was grown through New England, parts of Canada, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio, and was well known on the Pacific coast from Washington to California, but had failed to establish itself in the Mississippi valley¹. Beach judged that it probably ranked fourth among New York’s commercial apples, after Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening and Northern Spy, and that it often sold above standard varieties at home and abroad¹.

It is triploid^2,3, and SNP data identify Esopus Spitzenburg as one of its parents³; it has also been called Flat Spitzenburg¹.

The fruit

The fruit is large to very large and roundish to somewhat flattened¹. Its smooth yellow skin is mottled and washed with orange-red, deepening to a lively deep red, and striped and splashed with bright carmine¹. The yellowish flesh is rather coarse, crisp, tender, juicy, aromatic and subacid; Beach rated it “very good to best”¹, and Downing praised its rich, vinous flavour as “delightfully aromatic”⁴. Its seeds are few and often abortive¹.

In New York it was in season from late September or October to December or January. In common storage it seldom kept past December, and in cold storage usually until February, though some fruit began to decay in November¹. Mattison advised picking it ten to fifteen days before Baldwin or Greening¹. At the National Fruit Collection in Kent it is picked in mid-October².

Growing

The tree is vigorous and spreading, with rather slender, somewhat drooping side branches¹. Beach found that it was slow to come into bearing but then cropped regularly, lightly to moderately, every other year or nearly every year, and was often thought a shy bearer¹. Its weak roots and its liability to collar rot, sun-scald, canker and winter injury led growers to top-work it on hardier trees such as Northern Spy or Tolman Sweet; in Seneca County one such orchard, top-grafted about seventy years before, was still bearing good crops¹. The large fruit is easily blown down, so a sheltered site helps; it suffered more from worms but less from scab than Baldwin or Rhode Island Greening¹.

Uses

Beach found it excellent for both dessert and cooking¹, and Warder listed it for the table, the kitchen and market⁵.

Where the sources disagree

Origin. Warder supposed in 1867 that it originated in Tompkins County⁵; Beach and the National Fruit Collection place it near Washington, New Jersey^1,2, and Downing names a Thomas Thacher of Warren County, New Jersey, as its reputed raiser⁴.
Cropping. Mattison in 1860, Warder and Downing called it a regular or abundant annual bearer^1,4,5; Beach found it a biennial and often shy bearer¹.
Keeping. Downing gives December to March⁴, and Mattison said that carefully picked fruit kept until May¹; Beach found demand greatest in late autumn and early winter, with the fruit losing flavour by midwinter¹.

Family tree

Parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, as the entries in the atlas record them.

Tompkins King United States, before 1804
- Parent Esopus Spitzenburg United States, before 1790
  - Parent Reinette Franche France, by 1540
    - Parent Reinette de Saintonge

Where Tompkins King came from. The lines lead to its parents: Esopus Spitzenburg (United States).

Sources

The Apples of New York, vol. I, pp. 345–349: Tompkins King, S. A. Beach, New York Agricultural Experiment Station, Internet Archive, 1905. Supports: synonyms including King, King of Tompkins County, Tompkins County King, King Apple, Winter King, Tom's Red, Tommy Red, Toma Red and Flat Spitzenburg; Tompkins King accepted by pomologists as the correct name; "excellent in quality for either dessert or culinary uses", suited to fancy packages, often selling above standard varieties at home and abroad; in season from late September or October to December and January or later; commercial limit December, exceptionally January, in common storage and usually February in cold storage, some decay from November or even October; probably fourth in commercial importance in New York after Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening and Northern Spy; windfall losses and the need for shelter; more liable to wormy fruit and less to scab than Baldwin or Rhode Island Greening; slow to bear, then a regular bearer of rather light to moderately heavy crops biennially or nearly annually, often thought a shy bearer; weak root growth, sun-scald, canker, collar rot and winter injury; top-working on hardy stocks such as Tolman Sweet and Northern Spy, and H. D. Cole's Seneca County trees top-grafted about seventy years before and still bearing; the Jacksonville tree found by Bailey to have been grafted; origin near Washington, Warren County, New Jersey; brought to Tompkins County by Jacob Wycoff in 1804 and named King; "Tompkins County" added by the Congress of Fruit Growers at Rochester; James M. Mattison's 1860 account: Wycoff "always claimed it to be a seedling", the origin on the north side of the Musconetcong mountain one and a half to two miles from Washington, very old grafted trees, the local name Toma Red, little spread, "a regular bearer every year", gathered ten to fifteen days before Baldwin or Greening and keeping until the first of May; first described in the New Genesee Farmer in 1842 as King Apple; trees sold by Ellwanger and Barry in 1845; the American Pomological Society's catalogue of 1856 under the name Tompkins King; spread through New England, parts of Canada, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio and the Pacific coast, but not the Mississippi valley; tree vigorous and spreading, with rather slender, somewhat drooping lateral branches; fruit large to very large, roundish to somewhat oblate; skin smooth, yellow mottled and washed with orange-red, deepening to lively deep red, striped and splashed with bright carmine; seeds few, often abortive; flesh yellowish, rather coarse, crisp, tender, aromatic, juicy, subacid, "very good to best".
King of Tompkins County (accession 1957-219), National Fruit Collection, Brogdale, Kent (Defra). Supports: "Triploid"; "Thought to have been raised near Washington, Warren County, New Jersey"; brought to Tompkins County, New York, in 1804 by Jacob Wycoff, who named it King; renamed King of Tompkins County in about 1855; dessert apple; picking in mid-October at Brogdale.
Cultivar fingerprinting and SNP-based pedigree reconstruction in Danish heritage apple cultivars utilizing genotypic data from multiple germplasm collections in the world, Bjarne Larsen and others, Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 72: 2397, with supplementary Table S5, 2025. Supports: Table S5: Tompkins King (MUNQ 863) triploid, with Esopus Spitzenburg identified from SNP data as a parent and no second parent found.
The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America, p. 241: King of Tompkins County, A. J. Downing, revised by Charles Downing, John Wiley & Sons, Internet Archive, 1900. Supports: "Origin uncertain; said to have originated with Thomas Thacher, Warren Co., N. J."; "Tree very vigorous, spreading, an abundant bearer annually"; flesh with "an exceedingly agreeable, rich, vinous flavor, delightfully aromatic"; "Very good to best"; December to March.
American Pomology: Apples, p. 655: King of Tompkins County, J. A. Warder, Orange Judd, Internet Archive, 1867. Supports: origin "as is supposed, in Tompkins County, New York, where it has been much cultivated"; tree vigorous, healthy, large and spreading, "an abundant annual bearer"; use "table, kitchen and market".