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By John Hunter

Fall is my favorite season. The crisp nights, the comfortable, sunny, Indian Summer days, and apples. Apples are the best thing about fall to my way of thinking. I grew up savoring Red Delicious and Golden Delicious eating apples and Macintosh apples for pies. Lately, I have added several other varieties of apples to my favorites list. Fugi and Gala apples now top my new favorites list.
Apples seem to be the favorite fruit of many others as well. According to Tim Hensley writing in the November 2002 issue of Smithsonian, early Americans enjoyed many apple varieties. In 1905 the USDA listed over 14,000 apple varieties grown in the U.S. Sadly, today that number has shrunk to a mere 15 commercially viable varieties. Most of the apple varieties grown 100 years ago are now extinct. According to Hensley, however, there is a resurgence of interest in once overlooked apple varieties.

Thomas Jefferson, an early advocate of agricultural experimentation, has been credited with the creation of one variety, the Ralls Genet. Jefferson developed this variety through a gift of cuttings of a French apple provided by his friend, Edmund Charles Genet. Jefferson gave some cuttings to a local nurseryman, Caleb Ralls. The subsequent Ralls Genet variety became popular, particularly in the Ohio Valley. Jefferson grew this variety in his own orchards at Monticello.

As was the case with the Roses I wrote about several months ago, there are Internet sites where heirloom apple varieties many be purchased. In addition, a number of nurseries now sell heirloom trees should you wish to grow your own.

One site, www.applesource.com sells and ships apples and trees from late October through March. This site lists nearly 100 varieties of apples from Arkansas Black to Grimes Golden to Kandil Sinap, a Turkish variety. Another site, the Sonoma Antique Apple Nursery, now called Trees of Antiquity @ www.treesofantiquity.com sells heirloom fruit trees to homeowners. In addition to various varieties of apple trees, you can purchase Crabapples, Apricots, Peaches, Pears as well as Blueberries, nuts, Plumcots, and Quinces. A third site, www.southmeadowfruitgardens.com offers more than 250 apple tree varieties for those inspired growers who have a yen to grow an old time favorite treat.

From growing apples and preparing apples, we now turn our attention to another interesting site. As we learned last month, public figures generate a lot of interest. For those of you who are interested in the continuing soap opera that is Martha Stewart, the following site should prove interesting. www.savemartha.com features hilarious send-ups of various Martha Stewart enterprises. A SaveMartha voodoo doll is the prize of one contest, for example. You can also order a Save Martha Teddy Bear, a Save Martha retro BBQ apron ($21.99), and a Save Martha Retro Tile Coaster for $7.50 plus shipping. The site links to many other sites that feature Martha Stewart news items. So, for the Martha Stewart fan, this site is a good thing. Until next month . . .

John M. Hunter

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