TODAY IN THE ORCHARD

I went up to Poverty Lane Orchard in Lebanon, NH with three friends to cut rare scionwood this morning. Poverty Lane is the home orchard of Steve Wood and Farnum Hill Cider. Steve was instrumental in the revival of cider-making in the US. He was also a huge help to me when Fedco began to sell cider apple trees decades ago. For years I would make an annual trip to Poverty Lane to cut scionwood for Fedco.

Today I cut “False Chisel Jersey,” “False Major,” “Michelin” and “Red Streak,” four cultivars I never cut in the many winters I visited Poverty Lane. All four have become of interest to me in recent years with the advances in DNA technology. False Chisel and False Major are unidentified English cider apples whose scionwood was obtained by Steve from the USDA Geneva collection about 30 years ago. Michelin is one of the most widely grown cider apples in the world. DNA profiling has shown that many tens of thousands of Michelin trees have been incorrectly identified. Redstreak is a classic English cider name that could be historically significant. I will graft all four this spring and then send leaves to Washington State University for DNA profiling. I’m very excited to see the results.