Rediscovering the Ben Davis
Douglas Hundley / Avery Cooperative Extension Office
Several years ago, when we began the heirloom apple project in
Avery County, I immediately started getting phone calls from older folks in our county. As I visited
with them, I’d ask them about all the apples they remember from the “old days.” Of course, the
Virginia Beauty would be mentioned as a county favorite, but another apple kept coming up as I
talked with different folks. That apple was the Ben Davis.
The Ben Davis is more than one apple. As I listened more carefully, I was hearing about the Ben Davis, but also a Black Ben Davis and a Striped Ben Davis as well. Some kind of Ben Davis was mentioned repeatedly as I talked to older (and wiser) folks.
When we first enlarged our heirloom apple selection in our Annual Plant Sale, I looked into having Ben Davis trees grafted because of these stories. What I found out, however, was not pretty. The history of the Ben Davis is a roller coaster ride. I was told by experts like Lee Calhoun that the Ben Davis was America’s first shippable apple. In the 1870s, the apple would be grown in commercial orchards, then shipped all over the country. They could be loaded and unloaded with coal shovels in and out of railroad cars without bruising, keeping their “glossy finish.” Unfortunately, they tasted like paper mache after this treatment, much like a modern Red Delicious in a supermarket today. I took the advice and, thinking a bit too fast, I let the Ben Davis go and have yet to offer it in our sale.
This last fall, as I hunted through some old orchards that were new to me, I was getting more calls from people who had heard about the Extension Apple Project. One of those calls was from Randolph Winters. Winters took me to a very old family farm above Elk Park. The Winters farm is right near Dahl Flats, named for John Dahl, probably the first pioneer in the region. Dahl homesteaded his farm between 1780 and 1790, and died there in 1850. Winters’ great, great grandfather, William C. Winters, bought the land in 1900 and found a Ben Davis tree alive and well on site. He takes very good care of his great, great grandfather’s high mountain farm.
Winters kindly took me to see his great, great grandfather’s Ben Davis tree, at least 110 years old, with apples to examine and taste. Winters has a strong family history, including the story of this apple tree. The apples fit the description perfectly. I had found my first true Ben Davis left over from the distant past. Winters generously offered me budwood or scion over the next several years. So, in a couple of years, we will have original Ben Davis apple trees for sale in our Annual Plant Sale.
With their beautiful shape and high gloss red color, I could see why the Ben Davis became America’s first market apples. According to Winters and other gentlemen in the county, a mountain grown Ben Davis is fairly good to eat fresh off the tree and a very good cooking apple. I recently talked to my expert advisors, Calhoun and David Vernon, about the apple and learned upon deeper questioning that the apple earned its poor reputation because it was grown too far north, harvested too early and stored too long; some of the same reasons supermarket apples today can be poor quality.
With the help of Calhoun and his book “Old Southern Apples,” we have a pretty good picture of the Ben Davis apple’s history. Around 1799, a Captain Ben Davis lived for a time in a community called “Berry Lick,” located in what is now Butler County, Ky. Davis was in the process of planting a new orchard, and added several apple tree seedlings given to him by a neighbor, John D. Hill. Hill had acquired them on a trip to North Carolina or perhaps Virginia. A few years later Captain Ben Davis left the area, never to be heard from again. However, apples from one of his trees would attract much interest.
For 25 years, root sprouts were collected and distributed across Kentucky and Tennessee. Known by then as the Ben Davis, the apple was a nurseryman’s dream. Noted for growing rapidly, producing beautiful apples with few pest problems and blooming late, they apparently avoided frost damage, providing a dependable annual crop of apples.
Later, members of the Hill family moved to Illinois. There the Ben Davis was recognized for its most important characteristic: not bruising. By the end of the Civil War, the commercial promise of Ben Davis was recognized, and it was off and running all over the United States. Ben Davis apples were sold across the U.S. in general stores, beginning the business of merchandising apples, thus beginning the practice that would lead to the eventual demise of the home orchards.
Tens of millions of Ben Davis trees were planted between 1865 and 1900. Its incredible success despite the marginal fresh quality was largely due to not only its ship-ability, but its ability to keep for many months at a time when refrigeration was unheard of. Its growing region was limited to middle latitudes and growing them too far north would eventually lead to poor fresh eating quality and eventually lose its dominance in the market.
In 1870, an Illinois orchardist wrote, “The millions will choose the handsomest first, and take quality on trust.” Eventually, the poor eating quality of Ben Davis caught up with it. By 1915, the bloom was definitely off Ben Davis, and it was quickly dethroned by higher-quality apples such as Jonathon and Winesap.
This Ben Davis apple, Winters’, will be available for sale to everyone in the near future. In apple time, that’s about 24 months. I will be sure to announce it when that time arrives.
While this apple is one well-known apple, what about the Black Ben Davis? Is it just as well known? Maybe. Just as well liked? You bet. The Black Ben Davis, despite its name, is completely un-related to the Ben Davis. The Black Ben Davis was probably much more popular in Avery County throughout the 1900s and many trees remain today. It deserves an article of its own. So, stay tuned to learn the difference between these two apples in an article soon to come.
I believe there are very few Ben Davis apples left in Avery County. If you have a Ben Davis tree, please give me a call at Avery County Extension Office (828) 733-8270.
The Ben Davis is more than one apple. As I listened more carefully, I was hearing about the Ben Davis, but also a Black Ben Davis and a Striped Ben Davis as well. Some kind of Ben Davis was mentioned repeatedly as I talked to older (and wiser) folks.
When we first enlarged our heirloom apple selection in our Annual Plant Sale, I looked into having Ben Davis trees grafted because of these stories. What I found out, however, was not pretty. The history of the Ben Davis is a roller coaster ride. I was told by experts like Lee Calhoun that the Ben Davis was America’s first shippable apple. In the 1870s, the apple would be grown in commercial orchards, then shipped all over the country. They could be loaded and unloaded with coal shovels in and out of railroad cars without bruising, keeping their “glossy finish.” Unfortunately, they tasted like paper mache after this treatment, much like a modern Red Delicious in a supermarket today. I took the advice and, thinking a bit too fast, I let the Ben Davis go and have yet to offer it in our sale.
This last fall, as I hunted through some old orchards that were new to me, I was getting more calls from people who had heard about the Extension Apple Project. One of those calls was from Randolph Winters. Winters took me to a very old family farm above Elk Park. The Winters farm is right near Dahl Flats, named for John Dahl, probably the first pioneer in the region. Dahl homesteaded his farm between 1780 and 1790, and died there in 1850. Winters’ great, great grandfather, William C. Winters, bought the land in 1900 and found a Ben Davis tree alive and well on site. He takes very good care of his great, great grandfather’s high mountain farm.
Winters kindly took me to see his great, great grandfather’s Ben Davis tree, at least 110 years old, with apples to examine and taste. Winters has a strong family history, including the story of this apple tree. The apples fit the description perfectly. I had found my first true Ben Davis left over from the distant past. Winters generously offered me budwood or scion over the next several years. So, in a couple of years, we will have original Ben Davis apple trees for sale in our Annual Plant Sale.
With their beautiful shape and high gloss red color, I could see why the Ben Davis became America’s first market apples. According to Winters and other gentlemen in the county, a mountain grown Ben Davis is fairly good to eat fresh off the tree and a very good cooking apple. I recently talked to my expert advisors, Calhoun and David Vernon, about the apple and learned upon deeper questioning that the apple earned its poor reputation because it was grown too far north, harvested too early and stored too long; some of the same reasons supermarket apples today can be poor quality.
With the help of Calhoun and his book “Old Southern Apples,” we have a pretty good picture of the Ben Davis apple’s history. Around 1799, a Captain Ben Davis lived for a time in a community called “Berry Lick,” located in what is now Butler County, Ky. Davis was in the process of planting a new orchard, and added several apple tree seedlings given to him by a neighbor, John D. Hill. Hill had acquired them on a trip to North Carolina or perhaps Virginia. A few years later Captain Ben Davis left the area, never to be heard from again. However, apples from one of his trees would attract much interest.
For 25 years, root sprouts were collected and distributed across Kentucky and Tennessee. Known by then as the Ben Davis, the apple was a nurseryman’s dream. Noted for growing rapidly, producing beautiful apples with few pest problems and blooming late, they apparently avoided frost damage, providing a dependable annual crop of apples.
Later, members of the Hill family moved to Illinois. There the Ben Davis was recognized for its most important characteristic: not bruising. By the end of the Civil War, the commercial promise of Ben Davis was recognized, and it was off and running all over the United States. Ben Davis apples were sold across the U.S. in general stores, beginning the business of merchandising apples, thus beginning the practice that would lead to the eventual demise of the home orchards.
Tens of millions of Ben Davis trees were planted between 1865 and 1900. Its incredible success despite the marginal fresh quality was largely due to not only its ship-ability, but its ability to keep for many months at a time when refrigeration was unheard of. Its growing region was limited to middle latitudes and growing them too far north would eventually lead to poor fresh eating quality and eventually lose its dominance in the market.
In 1870, an Illinois orchardist wrote, “The millions will choose the handsomest first, and take quality on trust.” Eventually, the poor eating quality of Ben Davis caught up with it. By 1915, the bloom was definitely off Ben Davis, and it was quickly dethroned by higher-quality apples such as Jonathon and Winesap.
This Ben Davis apple, Winters’, will be available for sale to everyone in the near future. In apple time, that’s about 24 months. I will be sure to announce it when that time arrives.
While this apple is one well-known apple, what about the Black Ben Davis? Is it just as well known? Maybe. Just as well liked? You bet. The Black Ben Davis, despite its name, is completely un-related to the Ben Davis. The Black Ben Davis was probably much more popular in Avery County throughout the 1900s and many trees remain today. It deserves an article of its own. So, stay tuned to learn the difference between these two apples in an article soon to come.
I believe there are very few Ben Davis apples left in Avery County. If you have a Ben Davis tree, please give me a call at Avery County Extension Office (828) 733-8270.
Interested in grafting?
I know that many of you are interested in grafting your own apple trees this spring. This spring we will have semi-dwarf rootstock available for sale. If you are interested in the rootstock for personal grafting please give me a call at (828) 733-8270 as soon as possible and remind me how many you are interested in grafting.