North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Steve <sdw12986@aol.com>]

Mark Angermayer wrote:
> Could I get some assistance?  I'd like to order a Pixie Crunch apple, and
> Henry Fields/Gurneys carries it.  I know they're not the best nursery to
> order from, but I believe Pixie Crunch has pretty tight licensing and
> forbids most nurseries from propagating it.  Since Henry Fields currently
> has "buy $25, get $25 free"  I was also thinking about getting a Superior
> plum.
>
> Trouble is they call their plum, "Hybrid Superior plum."  I'm wondering if
> this is something different than Superior plum?  I wouldn't normally be so
> suspicious, but these companies are bad to rename stuff.  Gurney's
> (basically the same company) shows a Superior plum and the picture looks a
> little different.  I called Henry Fields but the lady I spoke with really
> didn't have a clue.  Anybody familiar with this plum that wouldn't mind
> taking a look at the link and tell me if it looks like a real Superior plum?
>
> http://henryfields.com/product.asp?pn=08443
>
>
> Thanks,
> Mark
> KS

Hi Mark. I had a hard time locating your original post. I was seeing 
replies and it took me a while to locate your original, because it was 
listed under a different subject that I hadn't read yet. Do you post 
here by replying to the last message you read, then change the subject? 
I think my mail program files it under the original subject, even though 
you changed the subject line. (Placing the NAFEX address in your address 
book would make it easy to start a new thread instead continuing one 
that isn't related.)

Anyway.... I'm not sure if I would buy from Henry Fields or Gurneys. 
Many years ago, I bought a Northstar cherry from Gurneys. I planted it 
even though it looked dried out. It never even tried to leaf out. I 
called and they were very happy to send another to me... next spring. 
The new one came and looked quite dead also. I got my money back for the 
tree but I lost 2 years. At that point, I bought one from a "real" 
nursery and it grew perfectly, as it should.

I believe I ordered from Henry Fields but I can't remember what it was, 
so probably not a tree. I hear the stories about a worker trying to fill 
an order and changing a tag to make life easier for him, just to get it 
completed. No idea how common or rare this might be. I don't think that 
is likely to happen with a dedicated fruit nursery where the owner takes 
pride in his product and is right there and watching what the help does.

Pictures... When I started getting fruit... apples, plums, grapes, 
whatever... I would look through catalogs and notice the pictures look 
nothing like the real fruit. I remember looking at a Gurneys catalog and 
realizing they just have pretty pictures mixed in with the item 
descriptions. The public gets attracted to a picture, reads the 
description next to it and believes that is what their fruit will look 
like. There might be 6 pictures and 8 descriptions with no indication of 
which goes with what. (I haven't looked at their catalog in years but I 
bet it is the same.) It's a little harder to imagine that they would do 
that on their web site with one picture obviously going with one 
description. From what I see, I believe they are still doing that, even 
on the web pages.

Steve