Cultivar 286: Victory

Victory is a dessert and cooking apple described as a Minnesota selection, formerly released as Minn. 396, and probably a seedling from McIntosh, or at least from a McIntosh mother. [S1] [S2] Daniels Nursery sold it as "The New Minnesota McIntosh," reflecting how closely its flavor and market role were compared with McIntosh in mid century northern orchard literature. [S3]

Sources associate it with the Minnesota Fruit Breeding Farm and give 1943 as the introduction date. [S1] [S2] The prairie reference work calls it a McIntosh seedling, while the Morden bulletin says more cautiously that it was probably from a McIntosh mother. [S1] [S2] That leaves the other parent undocumented. Daniels also kept the selection number visible as Minn. No. 396, showing that the numbered testing identity remained part of its history after it was named. [S3]

The fruit is described as medium to large, about 7 to 8 cm across, round oblate, and bright red with a medium waxy bloom. [S1] [S2] The flesh is white, fine grained, tender, juicy, and aromatic, with a flavor like McIntosh but slightly sharper from higher acid. [S1] [S2] Daniels claimed better color, firmer flesh, and higher quality than McIntosh, while the prairie encyclopedia gave a more reserved judgment of fair texture and flavor with high acid. [S1] [S3] Even so, the strongest descriptive source calls it excellent for both dessert and cooking, and Daniels promoted it as a superior cooker. [S2] [S3]

Victory was presented as a late apple. One source gives its season as about October 15 to mid March, while Daniels says it ripens about a week later than McIntosh and keeps about a month longer. [S2] [S3] Daniels also emphasized that it holds to the tree and handles well, and a later catalog note grouped it among apples that would not blow off at picking time. [S3]

The tree was described in prairie testing as spreading, vigorous, and productive. [S2] Hardiness for Manitoba was still under evaluation in that bulletin, but the authors thought it looked better adapted than McIntosh under Manitoba conditions. [S2] Daniels framed it more broadly as one of Minnesota's finest hardy apples for northern planting. [S3] The main caution in the sources is disease: the Morden bulletin says it is susceptible to fire blight injury. [S2]

In prairie and upper Midwest fruit history, Victory stands as one of the apples bred or selected to carry some of the aromatic appeal of McIntosh into colder regions with better keeping and handling. [S2] [S3] Its record is not that of a radically different fruit, but of a deliberate improvement on a famous standard: red, aromatic, more acid, useful for both kitchen and dessert, and aimed at growers who needed a hardier northern orchard apple. [S2] [S3]

Summary source basis

• S1: Edible Apples in Prairie Canada
• S2: TreeFruitsGrownInPrairieOrchards WRLeslie 1946 HQ
• S3: Daniels planting guide, 1950

This summary currently draws chiefly from Edible Apples in Prairie Canada, with 2 additional supporting sources linked below.

Featured source descriptions

“Tested as Minn 396.”
— ^[1]

“Listed under Apples in the page's 'List of Varieties Described.'”
— ^[3]

“Formerly released as Minn. 396.”
— ^[3]

“Flesh white, fine-grained, tender, juicy, aromatic; flavour similar to McIntosh but slightly more acid.”
— ^[3]

Direct parent cultivars

• No direct linked parent cultivars promoted yet.

Parentage claim text

• No direct breeding_cross claim text yet.

Derived or downstream cultivar links

• No derived or downstream lineage links yet.

Source-story quotations

• Victory (McIntosh sdlg) Excelsior (1943) ST Fruit 7-8cm, bright red with medium bloom. Texture and flavor fair, high acid content. Ref WCSH, F&N, L&W, FB3. Tested as Minn #396.Edible Apples in Prairie Canada, p71
• Victory (McIntosh sdlg) Excelsior (1943) ST Fruit 7-8cm, bright red with medium bloom. Texture and flavor fair, high acid content. Ref WCSH, F&N, L&W, FB3. Tested as Minn #396.Edible Apples in Prairie Canada, p71
• Victory (McIntosh sdlg) Excelsior (1943) ST Fruit 7-8cm, bright red with medium bloom. Texture and flavor fair, high acid content. Ref WCSH, F&N, L&W, FB3. Tested as Minn #396.Edible Apples in Prairie Canada, p71
• Victory (McIntosh sdlg) Excelsior (1943) ST Fruit 7-8cm, bright red with medium bloom. Texture and flavor fair, high acid content. Ref WCSH, F&N, L&W, FB3. Tested as Minn #396.Edible Apples in Prairie Canada, p71

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context