Fruity folk,
Maybe you are aware that the Seed Saver's Exchange (SSE) has a pre-1900 apple
collection housed on their farm in Decorah, Iowa. This year, for the first
time (I
think), the SSE membership listings catalog is offering scionwood from the
collection. If I recall correctly, the collection holds 700 varities of
apples,
some fairly rare and some originating in the Midwest and relatively unknown.
I am
not sure if you absolutely have to be a member to order wood, but one will
not
recieve the listing if not a member.
As per a recent offlist exchange about repositories being slow on the uptake,
is
the germplasm repository which holds apples still interested in such stuff
like the
aforementioned SSE collection? A few apples in the collection are unique. It
would
seem that a few individuals and organizations have found/collected local or
regional varieties that are not available thru the repository (I am thinking
of
some Southern states fruit explorer)s. Is this a problem, and what end
(collector
or repository) needs to remedied?
Just a Heads Up,
Heron Breen
zone 4, Maine