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Pomologists Bite Off More Than They Can Chew With 200-Year-Old Apple Mystery
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 1-30-2007 | Richard Savill

Posted on 01/29/2007 6:40:07 PM PST by blam

Pomologists bite off more than they can chew with 200-year-old apple mystery

By Richard Savill
Last Updated: 2:01am GMT 30/01/2007

The identity of an apple variety that has been growing in Dorset for 200 years has left fruit specialists baffled.

For generations, the family of Diana Toms has affectionately referred to the fruit as Granfer's Apple, after her great, great grandfather who planted the tree in 1803.

The family has asked pomologists to help establish the cooking apple's identity but they have so far been unable to solve the mystery.

Mrs Toms, 83, said: "I am rather pleased it is baffling all these people. If nobody knows what it is then it should be officially called Granfer's Apple. I would like that."

Mrs Toms' great, great grandfather, Isaac Bugler, grew the tree in an orchard attached to the family home in the village of Beaminster, Dorset. Mrs Toms said: "When I was a child I learnt to catch by standing under the tree. My father would climb up and drop the apples down to me. It is a wonderful cooking apple and my family has used it in cakes and pies for years and years. But if you like a sharp and crisp taste, then the apple is equally good for eating."

Mrs Toms called in specialists at the Symondsbury Apple Day in Dorset but they could not identify it. David Squirrell, of the Symondsbury Apple Project, said: "Its appearance doesn't match up with any other variety. There are lots of things about it, the shape, closed eye and length of stalk. "It might be a new variety that nobody knows about but it is probably an old one that was forgotten about many, many years ago. A completely new variety is very, very rare."


TOPICS: Heated Discussion
KEYWORDS: agriculture; apple; apples; dietandcuisine; dorset; forgottenvariety; fruit; fruits; gardening; godsgravesglyphs; granfersapple; helixmakemineadouble; johnnyappleseed; mystery; old; oldapple; pomologist; pomologists; pomologiy; pomology; pompomologists
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To: ClearCase_guy

If the apple doesn't exist, neither does gravity...


21 posted on 01/29/2007 6:57:12 PM PST by null and void (<----- Shocked and odd...)
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To: blam
The identity of an apple variety that has been growing in Dorset for 200 years ...

Whew! For a second there I thought somebody'd been digging around in the back of my fridge! ;-)

22 posted on 01/29/2007 6:57:27 PM PST by uglybiker (AU-TO-MO-BEEEEEEEL?!!)
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To: null and void

It's what I've long suspected.


23 posted on 01/29/2007 6:58:18 PM PST by ClearCase_guy (Enoch Powell was right.)
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To: paulat

Yeah. I should instead let them see women in burkas. Much more wholesome.


24 posted on 01/29/2007 7:00:21 PM PST by wireplay
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To: blam

Planted in 1803? Cool. I didn't think that apple trees lived that long. Hopefully, they will save either some seeds or cuttings to establish an available heirloom variety.


25 posted on 01/29/2007 7:03:01 PM PST by SIDENET (Everybody was kung-fu fighting)
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To: paulat

Last I checked, I'm fully grown, end then some. Your children can't be shown a picture of a cheerleader? And if they asked, you would find the act of explaining the context too challenging? OK. Sorry. Bye.


26 posted on 01/29/2007 7:04:02 PM PST by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Well, it's 2007. Time to get ready for 2008.)
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To: jdm; blam; aculeus; RikaStrom; Senator Bedfellow; Clemenza; 1rudeboy; Billthedrill; ...
Pompomologist — ’atsa nice.

I also like southern Italian food, making me a pomodorologist.

(Pomo d’oro, literally apple of gold, a tomato: tomato being, in fact, old slang for a girl, so we’ve come full circle).

27 posted on 01/29/2007 7:05:50 PM PST by dighton
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To: paulat

You know what!?! I don't let my kids on the internet period. What the hell are you thinking!?!?

I don't care if it is FR. My kids play outside, watch TV, play games, do homework, etc. but the internet is not connected to their computer. Get off your freakin high horse and not let your kids on the net.

They won't see the cheerleader because they aren't here period. God, I hate moralistic people that want to shove their values down my throat. It's even worse when they don't have control of their own house.


28 posted on 01/29/2007 7:06:20 PM PST by wireplay
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To: jdm
Oh well, I can't win them all.

You scored a +1 Instant Win on my books.

29 posted on 01/29/2007 7:07:57 PM PST by rabscuttle385 (Sic Semper Tyrannis * Allen for U.S. Senate in '08)
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Comment #30 Removed by Moderator

To: SIDENET

God help this tree from a fungus. I planted three apple trees about 20 years ago. They grew well and produced a good number of apples. Then, two years ago a fungus entered the base of the trees and killed them. The heat and moisture here in Mississippi is conducive for fungus.


31 posted on 01/29/2007 7:08:58 PM PST by vetvetdoug
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To: jdm

That is kind of funny


32 posted on 01/29/2007 7:09:44 PM PST by mel
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To: paulat

I guess you've never taken your kids to the beach. ???


33 posted on 01/29/2007 7:10:32 PM PST by StopGlobalWhining (Only 3 1/2-5% of atmospheric CO2 is the result of human activities. 95-96.5% is from natural sources)
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To: paulat

They see worse and hear worse on commercials during the evening news programs and on radio. Male enhancers, Viagra, women's personal hygiene products.


34 posted on 01/29/2007 7:10:49 PM PST by mel
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To: vetvetdoug

I've always had problems with my apple trees getting diseases. They seem to be the most susceptible of any of the more common fruit trees.


35 posted on 01/29/2007 7:12:51 PM PST by SIDENET (Everybody was kung-fu fighting)
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To: SIDENET
Hopefully, they will save either some seeds or cuttings

Apples don't come true from seed, so rooted cutting will be needed if they want to propagate the same tree with the same fruit.

That is a long damn time for an apple tree to live and bear fruit.

36 posted on 01/29/2007 7:13:09 PM PST by Semper911 ("We can stand here like the French, or we can do something about it." -Marge Simpson)
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To: paulat

you've got to be kidding. it's a cheerleader. football teams have them. basketball teams have them. middle schools have them. it was funny.


37 posted on 01/29/2007 7:14:32 PM PST by dudewheresmytank (when god put conservatives on this great earth, satan got mad and added liberals)
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A tree planted in 1803 is surely a seedling and therefore a new (different) variety. At that time is was thought that grafts would only live as long as the original tree so few trees were grafted.


38 posted on 01/29/2007 7:15:45 PM PST by webboy45
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To: paulat
My kids were interested in this new species...but the jerk you are applauding means I can't let them read this thread.

Just set your browser to not display pictures, let them read the thread, and then reset the browser.

I can understand that you can avoid TVs and keep out those images, but do you blindfold them when you drive past billboards?

39 posted on 01/29/2007 7:19:27 PM PST by PAR35
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To: paulat

What do you do about naked animals?


40 posted on 01/29/2007 7:19:45 PM PST by razorback-bert (Posted by Time's Man of the Year)
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