The Heirloom Orchardist

The "Honey Heart" Cherry Tree of 1851, and Plant Patents

The New England Farmer and Boston Rambler
Boston, Saturday, March 15, 1851
Vol. VI, No. 11

The Honey Heart Cherry Tree.
     This variety is also called Sparhawk's Honey, and it was formerly called Roger's Pale Red.  The Honey Heart is doubtless a native variety, and probably originated in this vicinity some sixty years ago.    Mr. Samuel Hyde, an aged gentleman, of Newton (Mass); first saw it in that town, and he propagated it in his nursery, from the original tree.
     His sons, and successors in the nursery business, Messrs.  S. & G. Hyde, gave to this cherry the name Honey Heart, and under this appropriate appellation it has been extensively disseminated.  As some authors called it Sparhawk's Honey, without sufficient authority, as we think, - for those who had first introduced had previously named it, this name obtained considerably for a while, but of late its true name is becoming prevalent.

Wait...what was that?  Are we talking about Sparhawk's Cherry, Roger's Pale Red Cherry, or the Honey Heart Cherry...which one?  The answer of course, is all of them, because they're all the same tree.  Back in the days of the Heirloom Orchardist, the creation of a new plant variety was as easy as coming up with a new plant name.  This was a common problem until pretty recently, when Plant Patents became available.

Yup, it's called a Plant Patent.  Today, there are just three categories of patents available from the US Patent Office.  The first is a Utility Patent, which covers the inventor on the functional aspect of a new device or process.  The second is a Design Patent, which addresses ornamental design.  The third is the Plant Patent, which was a difficult concept for the patent lawmakers to grasp.  A Plant Patent is granted to anyone who "invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant."  That definition comes right from the US Patent Office web page.  I quote it because it's significant that they use the words "invents or discovers."  This was a great debate for years, and one of the reasons that plant patents are a relatively recent addition to the small list of patent types. Who really creates a new plant variety, and thereby has the "rights" to it?  Is it the plant breeder who deliberately bred a new cherry variety?  Is it the person who just stumbles upon the nice cherry growing in his orchard and "discovers" a new variety?...or is it God?  The US Patent Act goes back as far as 1790, but plant patents didn't come about until the 1930's.

Today, we still have confusion amongst different plant varieties.  But it's a heck ofa lot better. Good nurseries will claim that the plants they sell are guaranteed to be "true to name."  I can't find if the Honey-Heart is still available.  Hmm...but Sparhawk's is listed in my 1849 edition of Thomas's American Fruit Culturist, a great old manual that I refer to repeatedly.

If you're considering growing heirloom cherries, here are some suggestions:  Bing, Montmorency, Van, & Morello.

Hardy Varieties of Pears. Suggestions by Henry Wilbur.

Some things never change.  The Heirloom Orchardist had to deal with the same fruit tree diseases that affect orchards today.  And just like today, the best offense was a strong defense.  The Heirloom Orchardist would try to choose varieties that were not susceptible.  In 1884, Henry Wilbur of Hillsdale County, MI, presented some varieties of Pear that are resistant to the dreaded Fire Blight:

     The Cultivator and Country Gentleman
     March 6, 1884, Albany, NY
     Vol.   XLIX, No.   1623

Hardy Varieties of Pears.
     One very essential quality to be observed in selecting pear trees, is to get those that are least subject to blight.  Duchesse d'Angouleme is one nearly, if not quite, free from it, and is a large valuable sort, either for standard or dwarf.  Seckel is another, not large, but of best flavor.  Beurre d'Anjou is one of the best.  Beure' Clairgeau is one of the largest and handsomest pears, but not the highest quality; the tree seldom or ever blights.  Winter Nelis is good and nearly free from blight.  Bartlett, Clapp's Favorite, and Flemish Beauty are the varieties (except, perhaps, the first named in this list) most extensively planted.  While not entirely (none are) free from blight, they are much more so than many others, and so few of them are lost proportionally to the great number planted, that I advise continuing to plant many of them.
     HENRY WILBUR, Hillsdale County, Mich.

Despite the Heirloom Orchardist's desire to choose hardy pear varieties, I have seen some early 19th century references to the use of "Bordeaux Mixture," known as such because it was first used in French vineyards. A spray that is still in use today, the Bordeaux mix contains copper sulfate and hydrated lime in water.  It is often used as a fungicide, but was found to also be affective against the bacterium that causes blight.  The Heirloom Orchardist was not completely immune to using sprays.

Blackberries in the Orchard

In 1884, F.S.K. of Annapolis, Md. proposed an affective method to rid your fields and orchards of Blackberries:

The Cultivator and Country Gentleman
March 27, 1884, Albany, NY
Vol.   XLIX, No.   162

Blackberries in Maryland.
     EDs. COUNTRY GENTLEMAN - The roots of the blackberry plant are in demand, as they are used by wholesale druggists in making up cholera medicine, and for other purposes. When I was seeding wheat last fall, as the plows turned up these long, horizontal roots, I pulled them out, and was surprised to find so many roots to one blackberry bush. I followed after the hands and gathered up what they left. I do not expect many of those roots are left, and feel confident that the wheat will not be choked by them to any extent.
     The best way to rid fields of the blackberry, and the cheapest way, according to my own experience, is to let hogs root them up. They are very fond of the bark of the root, although to my taste it is intensely bitter and astringent. Some of my neighbors lost many of their hogs during the past fall by cholera. I lost none, and none were sick in any way, which I attribute to their eating the roots of the blackberry. It may be well for others to try this remedy when their hogs are attacked by cholera.
F. K. S. Annapolis, Md.

Cholera was a serious disease in the days of the Heirloom Orchardist.  It wasn’t just hogs that were affected, people died from cholera.  An intestinal disease, it’s caused by the bacteria Vibrio cholerae, which was unintentionally ingested through contaminated food and water.  Modern organic gardeners should not think that the Heirloom Orchardist’s days were generally healthier due to the organic farming techniques used back then.  (Such as using hogs instead of an herbicide.)  Nope, the Heirloom Orchardist rarely had a proper sewage disposal system on his farm.  And he rarely thought about what was happening downstream of his farm.

The Heirloom Orchardist was very familiar with Blackberries.  Although a prolific fruit producer, the Blackberry plant was not often grown deliberately.  It was (still is) a plant that could be relied upon to appear voluntarily at the edge of the orchard or field (in F.K.S.’s case, a wheat field).  Think back to what you may have learned about forest succession in an old biology class.  Remember the “pioneer” plants that arrive in the early stages of the field’s transition back to a climax forest?  The Blackberry plant is one of those pioneer plants, and one that the Heirloom Orchardist was constantly battling without the help of modern chemicals.

But Blackberries do have a redeeming quality: delicious juicy fruit.  If you are interested in growing one, I recommend a thornless variety, the Chester Thornless, available here.

Ira's "Columbian Pippin"

On March 9, 1835, Ira Cole wrote to the Yankee Farmer about three varieties of apple.  We continue with his description of the third apple, which he calls the “Columbian Pippin:”

The Yankee Farmer
No. 6, Vol. 1
Cornish, Maine, March 16, 1835

     Mr. Cole, - Agreeably to your request, I improve the first opportunity in describing a few varieties of apples, which I consider among the most valuable.

     Columbian Pippin. - This apple is equalled by few, and surpassed by none, in its season: the tree is large, thrifty and hardy, but delights in a rich strong soil; the fruit is of large size delightfully fair, thin delicate skin, pale straw color, conical form, and semitransluscent.  It is of a very mild sour, rich, juicy, and of a spicy delicious flavor.  It is in use from Sept. to Nov. and equally valuable for cooking or the desert.  In alternate years it bears in great abundance and in the intermediate years, lightly.  It originated in the same Orchard with the Table Greening.

     Yours Respectfully,
     IRA COLE
     Limerick, Maine, March 9, 1835.

So here’s another apple, which originated along with his “Table Greening,” in Ira’s own orchard located in Cornish Maine.  An internet search tells us that Columbian Pippin was being grown by a couple orchardists in 1848, and 1850. So, apparently Ira managed to sell some scions, and the name Columbian Pippin stuck for a while before this variety faded away.  Here are a couple new terms a new Heirloom Orchardist can learn from Ira’s description:

Pippin:  I love this term.  A “pippin” is an old English word derived from the French word for 'seedling'.  But in slang, “pippin” is also something or someone that is very much admired.  So, it is understandable that an old orchardist could want to call every new apple in his orchard a Pippin.

Biennial Bearing apple:  In alternate years, the Columbian Pippin "bears in great abundance."  Many heirloom apple trees tend to be biennial bearers.  Apparently, the Columbian Pippin was such a variety.  This tendency means that they may bear a heavy crop of fruit every other year and a small crop in “off” years.

Esq. Plummer's "Black Russet"

On March 9, 1835, Ira Cole wrote to the Yankee Farmer about three varieties of apple.  We provide his description of the “Black Russet”:

The Yankee Farmer
No. 6, Vol. 1
Cornish, Maine, March 16, 1835

     Mr. Cole, - Agreeably to your request, I improve the first opportunity in describing a few varieties of apples, which I consider among the most valuable.
     Black Russet. - This is a very fine fruit, of a large size, good flavor, and keeps a year; it is a good bearer, but to flourish well, requires a strong rich soil.  It is unquestionably among the first apples of our country, but will not cook.  I have been informed by an intelligent orchardist, that it originated in the orchard of one Esq. Plummer of N.H.

     Yours Respectfully,
     IRA COLE
     Limerick, Maine, March 9, 1835.

Ira doesn’t give much of a description of the Black Russet.  This is because he doesn’t need to.  The name tells it all.  In Ira’s day, both “black” apples and “russeted” apples were common.  They still are…amongst heirloom varieties.  The old orchardists growing apples knew intuitively what a Black Russet would look like.  Here’s a quick primer on these two terms:

Black:  An apple is said to be black when it displays a color so darn deep red/blue/purple, that it almost looks black.  An artist or someone accustomed to looking at paint chips will tell you it’s not really black.  But to someone who breeds plants for their colors, it is.  Think of the “black” tulips that are available nowadays…they’re not really black, but boy…that’s about as black as any plant is really gonna get.

Russet:  Simply put, this is rough skin.  It has been described as similar to the skin of a potato.  Perhaps you’ve seen a patch of russeting on a McIntosh you picked-up at the supermarket.  And what did you do?  You put that apple back on the pile, and picked another.  That’s why we don’t see many apples in the supermarket with this naturally occurring condition.  Commercially, russeting is considered today to be undesirable.  (There are other reasons.  Russeting can cause the skin to crack, which is a BIG problem to a grower.)  But russeting is frequently found in the Heirloom Orchard.

I haven't been able to find any other reference to the "Black Russet" apple.  It may not have spread far beyond the orchard of “one Esq. Plummer” of New Hampshire.  But it’s also possible that some clever orchardist re-named it, and we know this apple today as an heirloom variety with a catchier name.

The "Table Greening" apple of Cornish, Maine

On March 9, 1835, Ira Cole wrote to the Yankee Farmer about three new varieties of apple.  We publish his description of the Table Greening here:

The Yankee Farmer
No. 6, Vol. 1
Cornish, Maine, March 16, 1835

     Mr. Cole, - Agreeably to your request, I improve the first opportunity in describing a few varieties of apples, which I consider among the most valuable.
     Table Greening. - This apple, I consider before any other now cultivated, for keeping.  The tree is most luxuriant in its growth, handsome in its appearance, acquires an enormous size, and will bear any situation or exposure.  The fruit is of a very large size, extremely fair, handsome shape, and of a beautiful grass green color, with a purple cheek next the sun.  It is in use from April till October, but may be kept two years with common care.
     This fruit is coarse grained and extremely crisp, and possesses the very rare and valuable property of keeping a great length of time, without growing insipid, or losing its fine flavor.  It is excellent for cooking or for the desert.  It bears every year; in alternate years it is a good, though not profuse bearer; but in the intermediate years, it is rather a shy bearer.  It originated in a very old orchard which I now own in Cornish.  It is as yet but little disseminated.  I count it altogether the most valuable apple that I raise, or that I ever have seen.
     Yours Respectfully,
     IRA COLE
     Limerick, Maine, March 9, 1835.

A.J. and Charles Downing identify the Table Greening in the 1900 issue of their classic Fruits and Fruit Trees of America.  So, presumably it was still a known variety around the turn of the century.  I haven’t been able to find another reference, or description.  Please contact me, or comment on this post if you are familiar with this heirloom variety.  We’d like your comment to become part of the database.

I suspect there’s some clever marketing going on here in the Yankee Farmer.  Perhaps there was a relationship between S.W. Cole, (the “editor and proprietor” of the Yankee Farmer), and Ira Cole, the informant on the Table Greening…Ira is from Limerick, Maine, and states the Table Greening originates from an orchard in Cornish, Maine.  Cornish is also the place where the Yankee Farmer is published.  A later issue of the Farmer contains the above ad for scions.

Renovating Old Orchards (part 3), Scion Wood.

We continue with the last part of EVELYN’s advice on renovating an old orchard:

The New England Farmer and Boston Rambler
Boston, Saturday, March 29, 1851
Vol.  VI, No.  13

Renovating Old Orchards (part 3).
     MR.  COLE: - We have resuscitated a few old trees by another method, which to some may appear more favorable, and where only one or two are going to decay, may perhaps be more convenient.  It is simply this.  After relieving the tree of the rough old bark and useless branches, take a load of any productive soil and spread it evenly under the tree.  If lime ashes or chip manure are mixed with it, so much the better; but if nothing else can conveniently be had, take the soil alone.  It will kill the grass, nearly or quite, for a year or two, but the branches of the tree will start in new growth, the leaves will be broader and healthier, and the fruit be increased both in quantity and quality.  An easy experiment; who will try it?
     Again, farmers are disappointed after grafting their old trees by not getting the varieties they expected.  We have suffered none at all in this way ourselves; but we have heard, from more than one individual, great complaints in this matter, especially where traveling grafters have been employed, even where the desired varieties were obtained for them, and they were paid at the same rate as when they furnished scions.  Yet we suppose that if apple trees would speak with men's tongues and teach in men's language, there are many in Massachusetts that would tell that their ancient heads were taken off simply to be restored by scions from their own sprouts.  That such occurrences do take place; we must believe on the principle that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established, for we have certainly heard more than three say that they had been duped in just such ways.  How vexatious it must be, after paying a liberal compensation for grafting, and waiting in hope and patient expectation until the first blossom appeared, and then watched the swelling fruit until the joyful harvest time, and then find that the graft produces the like in every respect as the parent tree!  We presume that all traveling orchard renovators do not practice such degrading frauds; and that some should, may not perhaps be strange.  But in order to be on the safe side we would advise farmers and fruit growers to get their scions from responsible sources, and then set them themselves, or if age or infirmity forbid this, employ those who will be found somewhere in the regions of responsibility, if there is any failure in the matter.
Yours, &c.,  EVELYN

Oh, boy!  If “apple trees would speak with men's tongues and teach in men's language,” there are a lot of other topics I’d like to discuss with those old trees, than where their scion wood came from!

Renovating Old Orchards (part 2).

Would you like to consider organic orchard care?  Low impact, sustainable fruit culture?  Try renovating your orchard the mid nineteenth century way!  Scrub your trees with lye, as Evelyn suggests.  That should do it.  We continue with his advice:

The New England Farmer and Boston Rambler
Boston, Saturday, March 29, 1851
Vol.  VI, No.  13

Renovating Old Orchards (part 2).
     MR.  COLE: - First, we will take the old orchard, which very likely from mismanagement has fallen into a premature old age.  There are many such in all parts of the country, and many of these are now-a-days having their rough trunks cleaned and their moss grown branches taken off to be newly grafted, with the expectation that when this is done, there is no more to do.  Perfect success is the boon which the owners of such orchards claim, and chill disappointment is often the realization of their hopes.  The young scion set in these old rough-barked, moss-grown trees, that have probably had their foliage harvested by the canker-worm for a quarter of a century, - we say scions set in these may live and have a sluggish growth for a year or perhaps for several years, but they will be sure to inherit the disease of the tree and in the end perish by them.
     If old trees are to be grafted, they should be subjected to the washing and scrubbing operation for a year or two before it is performed.  That is, the old rough bark and moss should all be scraped off, and two or three washings of strong lye be given each season to impart healthfulness and destroy insects.  Then another thing may need attention.  The trees may stand in grass land and the old turf may have become so thoroughly sodded that the air and the dews, the sunshine and the storm, those great elixirs of vegetable health, have but little influence upon the roots.  Tillage may be necessary to insure healthful vitality to the tree.  We once took half a dozen trees, which had nearly given over bearing, and after a thorough ploughing, planted the land to potatoes two successive years.  In 1842, this ground was thoroughly stocked, and that year and each successive one those trees have borne liberally, and yet there was no manure applied on this ground.  The change was all effected by a judicious pruning and cleansing of the trees and thorough working the soil.  Every particle of turf there and every bunch of moss that had driven the turf away from home, became manure, and told in connection with the deep tillage its efficiency.Yours, &c.,  EVELYN

It would seem to me that two or three washings of strong lye would use up a lot of the stuff to renovate even a small orchard.  Since lye is what the old orchardist’s wife used to make soap, this could mean that renovating an orchard could result in a lack of soap, and a pretty stinky orchardist family.