Today in the orchard
Peter del Tredici with one of the Burnham Sweet trees
We headed south to Boston with 27 two-year-old “Burnham Sweet” apple trees, individually wrapped with damp sawdust and ‘pallet-wrap’. Burnham Sweet is an heirloom, winter-keeping apple, named in honor of Oliver Burnham, an officer in the American Revolution and local hero of Cornwall, CT. The tree was introduced to us by Peter del Tredici, former director of the Arnold Arboretum and summer resident of Cornwall. Peter was able to find one or two puny scionwood sticks from the ancient tree and sent them to us in 2020. From those we were able to graft one tree. That tree produced the scionwood we used for the twenty-seven trees. We dropped the trees off with Peter who will take them back to Cornwall where they will be sold to local residents. The project will raise awareness of local historic agriculture, save another rare variety, reintroduce it to its town of origin and raise funds to support the library, all at the same time. Meanwhile the old Cornwall tree has broken apart and won’t be around much longer. Another victory for historic apple preservation!
