[Sca-cooks] Finding "period" Apples

[david friedman]

>This was known early on in history and the art of grafting is an ancient
>one. The good thing for us in all of this, is if we can actually find trees
>that claim a specific date they should bear fruit identical (giving
>allowance for dirt and climate) to the original tree that was deemed worthy
>to "clone" by grafting. The bad thing for us is the fact that in the quest
>for sweetness, predictability and conformity we (ie: the american corporate
>farmer) have created mealy, characterless apples.

The problem is that we are too mobile. I abandoned my first orchard
containing period varieties in Philadelphia more than twenty-five
years ago,  three more orchards (I don't remember if the one in New
Orleans had any period varieties of fruit or not) since. No idea if
any of the trees are still there.

The green gage plum in my  latest orchard, however, has gotten to the
point of producing fruit. I have hopes for the lady apple in another
few years. If I can just stay put a while ...  .

Incidentally, Summer Rambos, which are period or very close, are
still grown commercially. A store near Pennsic used to carry them--at
the right time of the year. But I haven't seen them in recent years.

There is a firm called "Applesource" that will mail you boxes of
apples of any of a very large number of varieties, including some
period ones. Useful if you like to taste before you plant.
--
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/