Wolf River

A large, very hardy apple raised by W. A. Springer near the Wolf River at Fremont, Wisconsin; first recorded in 1875

Wolf River, painted by Ellen Isham Schutt in 1912 for the US Department of Agriculture. Ellen Isham Schutt. U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705. Source; public domain.

Origin: Near the Wolf River, Fremont, Wisconsin, United States, before 1875
Raised by: W. A. Springer
Parentage: Seedling of Aport Long supposed to be a seedling of Alexander, which SNP data (Muranty and others, 2020) confirm as a parent; the other parent is unknown.
Uses: Cooking, Dessert
Picked: September, in Brogdale, Kent
Keeps: Until October in ordinary storage and January in cold storage (New York, 1905)
Skin: Rather thick; pale yellow or greenish, blushed with bright deep red and splashed and broadly striped with carmine
Flesh: Tinged with yellow; firm, moderately coarse, tender and juicy
Flavour: Subacid and a little aromatic; to Downing, mild with a spicy, slightly quince-like taste
Ploidy: Diploid

History

Wolf River was first recorded in 1875⁵, at the annual meeting of the Wisconsin State Horticultural Society in Madison that February¹. Among a box of mostly seedling apples sent by W. A. Springer of Fremont for the Waupaca County Horticultural Society, the fruit committee noted one called Wolf River: large, red with light yellow, tender and of good flavour, apparently a seedling and “some like the Alexander”¹. Beach credited Springer with raising it near the Wolf River, after which it was named², and Downing added that Springer grew the tree but parted with it before it fruited, to Henry Riflen, near the river’s east bank at Fremont³.

It entered the American Pomological Society’s catalogue in 1881². Hansen, writing in South Dakota in 1902, found that it had “largely superseded Alexander in the western states”²; by 1905 it was being planted to a limited extent in New York, where its large, highly coloured fruit often sold well².

Hansen and Downing supposed it to be a seedling of Alexander, which it resembles^1,2,3, and SNP data confirm Alexander as a parent⁴. Muranty and colleagues cite it as an example of the influence of Russian varieties brought deliberately to the upper Great Plains of the United States⁴.

The fruit

The fruit is large^1,2; the National Fruit Collection records it as 108 mm wide and 76 mm high⁵. It is broad and flat at the base, roundish or a little conical, and often somewhat irregular². The rather thick skin is pale yellow or greenish, blushed with bright deep red and splashed and broadly striped with carmine²; Downing noted that it turns whitish when ripe, under a thin whitish bloom³. Beach found the flesh tinged with yellow, firm, moderately coarse, tender and juicy, subacid and a little aromatic, and rated it “fair to good”². Downing described white, rather coarse, juicy flesh, mild subacid “with a peculiar spicy, slight quince-like flavor”³.

At Geneva, New York, it was in season from September to December, but it kept only until October in ordinary storage, or until January in cold storage, and it did not stand heat well². At the National Fruit Collection in Kent it is picked in mid-September⁵.

Growing

Beach found the tree very hardy and a good grower, cropping moderately to well every other year or sometimes every year². Downing and Hansen described a strong, spreading tree that is not an early bearer^2,3. A USDA germplasm inventory of 1996, citing a nursery catalogue and Bultitude’s Apples (1983), lists it as resistant to scab, mildew, fire blight and cedar apple rust, and its tree as very spreading and slow to form spurs⁶. Wolf River is diploid⁴.

Uses

The National Fruit Collection classes it as a cooking and dessert apple⁵, and the USDA inventory calls it excellent for cooking⁶.

Where the sources disagree

Place. Beach, the National Fruit Collection and the USDA inventory place its origin in “Fremont county”^2,5,6; Downing gives Fremont, Wisconsin, by the east bank of the Wolf River³, and the 1875 report has Springer at Fremont, sending fruit for the Waupaca County society¹.
The flesh. Beach describes juicy, yellow-tinged flesh² and Downing white, juicy flesh³; the National Fruit Collection finds it white tinged with green, rather dry and moderately acid⁵.
Season. Downing gives October and November³; Beach, September to December².

Family tree

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

Wolf River United States, before 1875
- Seed parent Aport Russia, late 18th century

Where Wolf River came from.

Sources

Transactions of the Wisconsin State Horticultural Society, annual meeting of 1875, p. 107: Report of Committee on Exhibition of Fruit, Wisconsin State Horticultural Society, E. B. Bolens, State Printer, Madison; Internet Archive, 1876. Supports: the fruit exhibited at the annual meeting held at Madison on 2–4 February 1875; W. A. Springer of Fremont sending a box of apples, "mostly seedlings, in behalf of the Waupaca county Horticultural Society", including "Wolf River, large, red with light yellow, creased, tender, good flavor, appears to be a seedling, some like the Alexander".
The Apples of New York, vol. II, pp. 245–246: Wolf River, S. A. Beach, New York Agricultural Experiment Station, Internet Archive, 1905. Supports: a variety of the Aport group, resembling Alexander in size, form and colour; Hansen's statement (South Dakota station bulletin, 1902) that it is "supposed to be a seedling of the Alexander", larger and rounder, that it "has largely superseded Alexander in the western states", and that the tree is a strong spreading grower, not an early bearer, productive in alternate years; season September to December at Geneva, with October the commercial limit in ordinary storage and January in cold storage; does not stand heat well; tree very hardy, a good grower, cropping biennially or sometimes annually; large, shapely, highly coloured fruit that often sells well; originated by W. A. Springer near Wolf River, "Fremont county", Wis., hence its name; entered in the American Pomological Society's catalogue in 1881; planted to a limited extent in New York; the fruit large, broad and flat at the base, inclined to conic or roundish, often somewhat irregular; skin rather thick, pale bright yellow or greenish, mottled and blushed with bright deep red, with splashes and broad stripes of carmine; flesh slightly tinged with yellow, firm, moderately coarse, tender, juicy, subacid, a little aromatic, "fair to good".
The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America, appendix, pp. 113–114: Wolf River, A. J. Downing, revised by Charles Downing, John Wiley & Sons, Internet Archive, 1900. Supports: the tree grown by W. A. Springer and "disposed of before fruiting to the late Henry Riflen, near the east bank of Wolf River, Fremont, Wis."; supposed a seedling of Alexander, darker and rather better in quality; the tree said to be very hardy, strong and spreading, not an early bearer but producing full crops in alternate years; fruit large to very large; skin pale greenish yellow, becoming whitish when mature, shaded with light and dark red or crimson, with a thin whitish bloom; flesh white, rather coarse, half tender, juicy, mild subacid, "with a peculiar spicy, slight quince-like flavor"; season October and November.
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 7 (Tables S1 and S6), 2020. Supports: Alexander, a major founder from the Moscow region, giving rise to Wolf River in Wisconsin, "an example of the influence from intentional introduction of Russian cultivars for use in the upper US Great Plains"; Table S6: Wolf River and Alexander a parent–offspring pair, with "probably Alexander" as the parent in the literature; Table S1: Wolf River diploid (2n), dated 1875.
Wolf River (accession 1943-005), National Fruit Collection, Brogdale, Kent (Defra). Supports: raised by W. A. Springer near Wolf River, "Fremont County, Wisconsin"; first recorded in 1875; parentage "Alexander x Unknown"; culinary and dessert apple; large, 108 mm wide and 76 mm high; white, green-tinged, fine-textured, "rather dry" flesh with a moderately acid flavour; picking in mid-September at Brogdale.
Plant Inventory No. 204, Part I, p. 322: PI 588807, Wolf River, R. A. Norris (ed.), USDA Agricultural Research Service, 1996. Supports: Wolf River received from Washington State University, Prosser, in 1984; originated near Wolf River, "Fremont County, Wisconsin"; recorded 1875; "Resistant to scab, mildew, fire blight and cedar apple rust"; tree vigorous and very spreading, "Does not produce spurs very freely"; "Excellent cooking"; with the literature cited as a 1992–93 Tsolum River Fruit Trees catalogue and J. Bultitude, Apples (1983).