 Late
Summer-Early Fall.
Seed from Barre, Mass., Mercer, ME (Somerset County), 1816 Great confusion
surrounds this apple that was introduced by John Thompson, the founder
of Mercer. Some claim that Thompson is synonymous with the Massachusetts
apple, Williams. Some call this apple Somerset of Maine. (See above
Somerset of Maine for more confusion) Others think that the last Thompson
tree may have been on the Corson Rd. in Mercer in the orchard of Arthur
Johnson. Part of a tree was grafted with it. Those branches all died
in 1996, but not until after we collected scion wood and grafted several
trees. The wood was alive but in terrible shape. In 1997 I ate fruit
from Francis Fenton's orchard in Mercer. He believes he has a true
Thompson. There is another tree which also may be the true Thompson
on the Bacon Rd. in Mercer on the farm of Chris Holt. Other trees
that may be Thompson are scattered here and there around central Maine.
The large fruit is ripe in August and is solid red with stripes of
darker red. The shape is distinctly conic, somewhat similar to Red
Delicious, Williams and Porter. It is a very attractive, decent fresh
eating fruit. |
