 Summer.
Unknown parentage. Winthrop, ME(Kennebec County), before 1847. Apple
varieties were originally distributed around Maine, not by Fedco or
Stark Brothers, but by itinerant grafters, one of whom was Moses Wood.
The apple bearing his name is thought to have originated on his farm
in Winthrop, but perhaps he picked it up just down the road from your
house. In any event, it's a tart late-summer dessert and cooking apple,
medium-sized, roundish to conic with distinct ribbing and lobes around
the calyx end. Light yellow skin with a pink blush and red stripes.
White medium- to fine-grained tender very juicy flesh, pleasantly
subacid. Prized for those who like tart fresh
eating apples. It also makes a exceptional tart pie. Vigorous upright
productive tree. I found Moses Wood and several
other rare Maine apples in the New Sharon orchard of Bill Reid,
philosopher, used book dealer, and Jack of all trades. Bill has
given me free reign of his secluded orchard and usually entertains
me on his banjo when I visit him and his three legged pit bull,
Cyrus. He received his scion wood from Morris Towle of Winthrop.
Towle was an orchardist, breeder, and collector of old varieties
whose orchard once included many of New England's rarest apples.
Two of his introductions have been saved and are listed below, Sweet
Sal and Winekist. Towle was the friend and associate of the well
known and renowned fruit explorer, Ira Glackens. |
