Virginia Hewes Crab

Virginia Crab is also known as Hewe's Crab. It was described by Coxe in A View of Fruit Trees, 1817, as: The apple is of small size; the form nearly round... the skin a dull red mixed with faint streaks of greenish yellow, and numerous small white spots. The flesh is singularly fibrous and astringent…The tree is of small size, the leaves though small, are of luxuriant growth…the wood hard and tough, never breaking with the load of fruit, usually produced every second year. The origin of this apple is satisfactorily traced to Virginia, where trees nearly one hundred years old, are now standing…The apple called Hewe's Virginia Crab differs so much from all others that the liquor extracted from it requires a system of management adapted to the peculiar qualities of the fruit. It was one of the major cider varieties that Thomas Jefferson planted at Monticello. It makes a high-flavored dry cider, which maintains its quality for a long time and ferments very slowly. Ripens in September.