The previous owners of the Rolfe property were named Houston. They had cleared a small portion of the land and Mrs. Betsy Houston had planted a number of seeds of the Massachusetts apple, Blue Pearmain.  By the time these Blue Pearmain seedlings were large enough to transplant, Rolfe had moved to the property.Sometime about 1820 he gave twelve of them to the Rev. Thomas Macomber of Guilford who kept eleven for himself and gave the twelfth to his own son who planted it on an adjacent farm. It was that twelfth tree that became the Rolfe apple. By the time the tree bore fruit, Rev. Macomber had gained possession of his son's farm. It was the Reverend who owned the first Rolfe tree. For many years the variety was in fact known as Macomber, but gradually it became more commonly and then pretty much exclusively called Rolfe.

The tree is rather large, vigorous, roundish to spreading in form. The roundish fruit is medium to sometimes large, pretty uniform in shape and size. The skin is moderately thin, rather tough, glossy, clear pale yellow, sometimes faintly blushed or in well colored specimens distinctly shaded and striped with lively red. The prevailing effect yellow or yellow and red. The flesh is whitish with slight tinge of yellow, moderately fine-grained, crisp, tender, juicy, briskly subacid, good from late September to December or January.

Once common throughout much of Maine, and even planted elsewhere in New England, it has now all but disappeared. There are two identified trees I know of, one at Sweetzer's orchard in Cumberland Center near Portland and the other at Olmsted's Orchard in Charleston near it's place of origin.

Fedco Seeds, PO Box 520, Waterville, ME 04903
(207) 873-7333 or (207) 430-1106

Top | Home | Fedco Seeds | Moose Tubers | Organic Growers Supply | Fedco Trees | Fedco Bulbs