Mamuang, great article! Fingers crossed on my first bud grafts! Thanks soooo much! Mrs. G

Great article, excellently written. Makes one long for something never known!

Another point of view, long live genetic diversity (disease resistance, etc)...vs monocultured orchards.

That was a well written article Mamuang. Thanks for posting it.

Something else which is coming back into popularity (after being out of favor for a century) is hard cider.

The article talks about a bottle of hard cider on a hot summer day being a quintessential New England experience. I disagree. It can be enjoyed just as thoroughly on a hot summer day in Kansas.

I can't believe as a nation we ever gave up cider for beer. Beer tastes like pee (or at least smells like it) compared to a good bottle of cider.

There are a lot of brewers jumping on the cider bandwagon, and there are some really bad ciders out there, but there are also some good ones. Just like apples, I expect more complex cider flavors will be reintroduced as time goes on.

Great article. By the way, coffee has a similar story.

For those of you that want apple genetic diversity, check with Cummins. They have some varieties from whatever-istan that the USDA has released for genetic diversity.

This post was edited by cckw on Sat, Sep 6, 14 at 19:56

It is a very nicely researched and written article. I would like to post one correction. The Baldwin was not replaced by Red Delicious after the test winter that killed them. Cornell called for replanting with Macintosh, a much more grower friendly apple than Baldwin that tends to bear well every year even if it isn't thinned.

Macintosh became the quintessential New England apple- not Red Delicious. It was the Washington growers that made RD
America's apple. If Macintosh hadn't been such a bad call- delicious off the tree but mush in a few weeks, maybe RD would not have become king.

Glad your guys think it's worth reading, too.

I hope to graft a few antique apples next spring. Wish me luck.

Olpea, I've never try hard cider and I've been in New England for over 25 years!!! Your comment about beer is funny. I have to agree.

H-man - you know the history. Thanks.