North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[<dmnorton@royaloakfarmorchard.com>]

There is a good history of apples found at 
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Fruit/Apples.htm by Linda Stradley with 
references sited for those interested.

Dennis Norton
Royal Oak Farm Orchard
http://www.royaloakfarmorchard.com
http://www.theorchardkeeper.blogspot.com
http://www.revivalhymn.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <David.Maxwell@dal.ca>
To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, November 09, 2007 9:03 AM
Subject: [NAFEX] Introduction of apples to North America


> I understand that apples are not native to the Americas.  Who brought them?
> Champlain wrote in 1605 that "the cold was so intense that the cider was 
> divided by
> an axe..." (not clear whether this cider had been brewed in New France, or 
> brought
> with them from France.)  He also records taking fruit trees with him in 
> 1606 to plant
> in Quebec.  Poutrincourt made a number of trips between France and Acadie
> between 1605 and 1610, bringing "seeds of all kinds", and Lescarbot in 
> 1610,
> writing about the Port Royal habitation, makes reference to the good 
> harvest that
> year "except for the trees they planted, which are not so prompt in 
> bearing". Simon
> de Rasilly, who established Fort Ste. Marie de Grace at the mouth of the 
> LaHave
> River in Nova Scotia, (about 5 km. from my present day house), in 1632, 
> recorded
> in his diary planting apple trees to supply the fort with cider, and 
> Nicolas Denys in
> 1635 reported seeing several apple and pear trees, well rooted and in good
> condition at Port LaTour, across the river from the Fort. He also makes 
> reference to
> "apple and pear trees which are well started but not yet in condition to 
> bear, since
> they were brought small from France", (suggesting that they were not just 
> planting
> seeds, but importing grafted trees.) Were these men responsible for 
> introducing
> apples to North America, or were they preceded by British settlers in the 
> Virginias?
> Or even earlier?  (I am embarrased by my ignorance of early European 
> settlement
> of North America.)