Muster

General Fruit Growing
#1

Now and again I still run across the name of an old apple I’d never heard of and will check here to see if anyone has posted about it. I’ve found nothing this time. One variety I just noticed is Muster, a variety from Indiana in the early or mid 19th century. I found it described in the 1976 South Meadows Catalog with a couple of very positive historical references, but it is missing from almost all the standard 19th and 20th century pomology resources. South Meadow still includes it in its catalog (anyone done business with them on the last few years?), but scionwood is also available through the Temporate Orchard Conservancy.

Anyone grow it, heard of it, or have an opinion about it? Is Muster up to muster?

(You might guess from three quick posts in a row that I’m stuck inside on a stormy day.)

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#2

Dr Stayman mentions Muster in a list of preferred apple when he addressed the Kansas State Horticultural Society in 1897. It’s been around at least since then.

“Those best for a family orchard are Stayman, Winesap, Jonathan, White Pippin, Mason’s Orange, Summer Extra, Garretson’s Early, Summer Pearmain, Early Joe, Jefferis, Early Ripe, Duchess of Oldenburg, Dr. Watson, Muster, and Wagener; and for sweet apples there are none better than Broadwell, Ramsdell, Superb, Baltzby, and Mountaineer “

Here is their 1897 description of Muster:

Origin unknown. Fruit oblate, yellow, mostly covered with mixed red and splashes of crimson. Fresh yellow, fine grained, tender, juicy, subacid, aromatic. Best. Core small. August and September (Warder.)

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