dots

Dots is an extremely old, grafted tree in Belgrade, ME, introduced to us by the owners, Janetha Benson and Russ Dejong. They named the tree for the very prominent dots on the fruit. The tree was ancient when I first visited it with Laura Childs on September 18, 2011. The DNA profile (AMHO 011) indicates that Dots is a triploid with no match in the reference panel. It does, however, match another unidentified tree, this one being the NH State Champion tree (AMHO 052), submitted by Jared Kane. The site where Dots is located is an old farm known as the Sabins Farm after Emma Sabins who was a single woman—likely a widow—who lived on the farm in the early 1900’s. At some point the farm was owned by J.C. Taylor, the father of the well-known orchardist, Joseph Taylor (1804-1882). Dots could be one of Joseph Taylor’s missing introductions such as Rome of Maine, Rockwood or Zachary. It might also be a southern New England apple that the Taylors were growing, which would explain its being identical to AMHO 052. The Benson tree is still alive (2025) though nearing the end of its life.

Dots is a winter-keeping, dark red, furrowed, Baldwin-type apple. We have a young tree grafted at SCF although it is not yet fruiting. We obtained our scionwood from the Belgrade tree. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.