North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Bruce Hansen" <brucehansen@ACD.NET>]

Hail Charlotte Shelton:

Great piece. I have read Beach, Hogg and Downing but your letter is most
wonderful.
Thanks again and for your Link which is now in my Favorites/Nursery folder.
I have most of the apples listed but many are young. I love the flavor of my
Newtown but also savor the Ashmead Kernal, Hubbardston Nonesuch and Lady, to
name a few.
Bruce

-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-admin@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-admin@lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of Vintage Virginia
Apples LLC
Sent: Monday, September 16, 2002 8:21 PM
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Apples for the Hawkes


The best account of the Albemarle Pippin is probably in Peter Hatch's  The
Fruits and  Fruit Trees of Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1998,
pp70--73.  The apple did originate in Newtown on Long Island which is now
Queens about 1700.  It varies considerably according to where it is grown
and there is some controversy as to whether there is really a distinction
between the yellow and green variety.  Newtown it certainly was--Jefferson
called it that ("They have no apples here to compare with our Newtown
pippin" he wrote from Paris) and its remarkable keeping qualities made it a
premier export apple from at least the mid 18th century.  It grew especially
well in Virginia along the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge.  The name
Albemarle Pippin first appeared in print according to Hatch in the Southern
Planter in 1843  when a Richmond writer complained about the importation of
northern apples  to Virginia when "the very best pippin we know is grown in
...Albemarle." Locally (I am in Albemarle County, Virginia) it was widely
held that the Albemarle Pippin came from a seedling tree that in 1765 was
noted for its fine fruit in North Garden, about ten miles from Monticello.
In a letter to Beach included in his Apples of New York, Albany, N.Y., 1905,
Vol. I, P. 149, Samuel Woods related that "as far back as 1765 there was a
tree noted for its fine fruit standing in a mountain hollow ...in the North
Garden neighborhood...tradition has it that it was a seedling and from its
stock came all Albemarle Pippins.  The other account and the most authentic
one, is that which fixes the earliest introduction at the time of Braddock's
defeat(1755).  Col. Thomas Walker of Castle Hill in Albemarle county
returned from that campaign with cuttings of apple trees in his saddle-bags.
They were grafted at Castle Hill and became the famous Albemarle
Pippin...the land on which the tree in North Garden stood belonged to
Mildred Merriweather. Col. Walker's stepdaughter.
Perhaps you will forgive a Virginian this long exegesis on the Pippin, but
it is, in my opinion, when well grown the best apple I have ever tasted.  It
is not particularly easy to grow and is often grown poorly....it is a late
ripening apple, is often irregularly shaped and a rough yellow color with
some russeting.  Its flavor develops in storage, it is wonderful for
dessert, culinary use and makes superb cider, being one of the few apples
that can stand alone in cider.  All of this being said, it is singularly the
Albemarle Pippin or just Pippin around here and is worth the effort.  It is
certifiably antique and is certainly an heirloom to be cherished.

I have been collecting scions from old orchards in this area and have
several, few of which are fruiting just yet.  I do not expect to find I have
different strains, but nonetheless have four distinctly different local
sources as well as a couple from Miller in N.Y., several from Carlos Manning
who got it from a early 20th century West Virginia orchard and a couple of
other sources.

Charlotte Shelton
Vintage Virginia Apples LLC
North Garden, Virginia
www.vintagevirginiaapples.com

  ----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce Hansen" <brucehansen@ACD.NET>
To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, September 16, 2002 6:05 PM
Subject: RE: [NAFEX] Apples for the Hawkes


> Mark:
>
> Gee. Thanks for the heads up. It is Long Island. Long Island, Rhode Island
> (Roger Williams) it gets pretty confusing. But you have lived there for 22
> years and it is no mystery to you. Do you know anything about the Newtown
> Pippen, the Yellow Newtown Pippen or the Albemarle Pippen? Do you grow
them?
> The purported difference in looks and flavor is probably due to geography,
> don't you think?
>
> Bruce
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nafex-admin@lists.ibiblio.org
> [mailto:nafex-admin@lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of Mark Garrison
> Sent: Monday, September 16, 2002 4:56 PM
> To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Apples for the Hawkes
>
>
> Bruce wrote:
> > I don't think Albemarle Pippen and Yellow Newtown Pippen are the same
> apple.
> > It seems to me that Albemarle is a Virginia apple and of course Newtown
is
> from Newtown RI. Since they are both Pippens perhaps it is just geography.
>
> Never heard of Newtown RI.  But of course I've only lived here 22 years.
>
> Mark, RI zone 6
>
>
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