The Heirloom Orchardist

The Lying Stinking Cheating Orchardist

Oh No! Say it ain't so!  The Heirloom Orchardist was sometimes a lying cheating bum?!

Yup, 'fraid so...That humble orchardist, the one we think of going out to his orchard day after day to grind an honest living from his land, was on occasion a stinkin' cheat.  Actually, based on what we see in the farm journals published throughout the 19th century (right on into the 20th century) it happened more frequently than "on occasion."  It was a major problem.

This cheating had to do with packing the fruit.  Here's a piece from the Farm Journal, published in December of 1903:

"All over the country about these days the farmers are packing apples for the market. It takes no small amount of grace in the heart to do that work faithfully and well. But it pays, and pays big, to be honest about packing apples. A row of splendid apples at the bottom of the barrel and then a bushel or two of small, gnarly ones, is just the best way in the world to make men have doubts about the future welfare of the human race. As the world grows better it packs its apples all the way through the barrel as nearly alike as possible."

It seems that our cheating orchardist became so notorious, that buyers learned to look out for him.  An account in the June 10 1908 Market Growers Journal provides an apple buyer's experience:

"I was once buying Apples for home use. The dealer had a number of barrels. "These," said he, pointing to a barrel of Baldwins, "are $2.50 a barrel." "These," pointing to another barrel, "are $3.50 a barrel." Both looked alike on top. But on the head of the ones priced $3.50 was a stencil, "Grown, packed and shipped by: (Orchardist name here), Lockport, N. Y." On the head of the other barrel was a lead pencil scrawl, "Baldwins," and in the middle of the barrel was a motley collection of cullings perfectly worthless. I bought the other barrel, and the Apples all through it were just like those on top, and the dealer said: "That man's Apples always top the market." And it was proper that they should, for they were honestly packed and the grower was proud of his product, for not a scabby Apple was in the barrel. The other packer did not want any one to know who packed or grew the miserable cheat, and his dishonest packing knocked off $1.00 a barrel and should have knocked off more."

Apparently, some clever growers took advantage of the pervasive skepticism.  They packed their fruit well, established a reputation for honesty, and charged a premium for it.  Now, that's the way to do it. That's my kind of entrepreneurial orchardist!

Dr. Johnson and Apple Dumplings

“If possible, have a good orchard,” wrote Dr. Samuel Johnson to his friend (and eventual biographer) James Bowell “I know a clergyman of small income who brought up a family very reputably, which he chiefly fed on apple dumplings!”

The Heirloom Orchardist would have found humor in that statement.  At least I hope so.  I have to believe that Dr. Johnson meant it to be heard with a chuckle.  As they are today, apples were grown for several reasons in eighteenth century England.  They were eaten out of hand, they were fed to livestock, they were brought to market.  And of course, they made into all sorts of apple treats...including dumplings.

But how did The Heirloom Orchardist make an apple dumpling?  A February 4, 1888 issue of Good Houskeeping Magazine gets us started with this:

"Undoubtedly, the dumplings of our ancestors were composed largely of suet and though suited to the gross customs of those times would not be in favor to-day. Yet instead of throwing aside the dish on this account, we may make them more in accord with modern ideas."

Suet? Really?  "Gross customs," indeed.  Let's get to those "modern ideas" of 1888.  Good Housekeeping continues:

"Our dumplings may be steamed, boiled or baked. Formerly each one was tied in a well-floured cloth and boiled, but steamers make the preparation easier for us. The dumplings may be put side by side on a plate and that be set in the steamer, or they may be put separately in cups. If they are to be baked, it is desirable to put them quite close together in a pan, and put a bit of butter on top of each one and sprinkle a little sugar over all. This makes a crisp brown crust."

A bit of butter, a sprinkle of sugar, and a crisp brown crust...now we're talkin'.  Let's end with Lydia Maria Gurney's recipe, as provided in her 1913 book entitled "Things Mother Used to Make":

Baked Apple Dumplings

"Take rich pie crust, roll thin as for pie and cut into rounds as large as a tea plate. Pare and slice fine, one small apple for each dumpling. Lay the apple on the crust, sprinkle on a tiny bit of sugar and nutmeg, turn edges of crust over the apple and press together. Bake in a hot oven for twenty minutes. Serve hot with cold sauce."

Get Your Fruit List Ready! (How 'bout the "Spitz"?)

"Don't you have clear ideas as to just how to plant and care for an orchard?  Winter is the time to read up.  Send for catalogues, study up varieties, and get your fruit list ready." - The Farm Journal, January, 1894

"How true!" says The Heirloom Orchardist.  "Get your fruit list ready!" Let's start with the Esopus Spitzenburg.  How can you refuse such a classic apple, with a name like that?  Here's what the experts said:

"Esopus Spitzenburg - Fruit large and oval shape; color red, covered with light yellow spots; flesh of the finest flavor for dessert or cooking, and keeps till February." - American Agriculturist, Volume 3, 1844

"The Esopus Spitzenburgh is a handsome, truly delicious apple, and is generally considered, by all good judges, equal to the Newtown Pippin, and unsurpassed as a dessert fruit, by any other variety. It originated at Esopus, a famous apple district, originally settled by the Low Dutch, on the Hudson, where it is still raised in its highest perfection. But throughout the whole of New-York, it is considered the first of apples, and its beauty and productiveness render it highly profitable for orchard culture." - The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America, by Andrew Jackson Downing, 1845

Ah, the perfect apple!  Who could disagree with the famous Mr. Downing?

The Heirloom Orchardist, that's who.  The purpose of this website is to put the old-timers' thoughts and opinions in perspective.  Too easily, we tend to glamorize their ways and means.  It's important that I include an account of this old heirloom (or any heirloom) that makes mention of its not-so-attractive qualities.  This is one of the drawbacks to heirlooms...some of them aren't as hearty as we'd like them to be.  Consider Hedrick's comments of 1922:

"Esopus Spitzenburg - is one of the leading American apples. . . however, (it) falls considerably below the mark of perfection through lack of vigor and health in the tree, and because of decided local prejudices to soil and climate which make it suitable only to favored localities. Unfortunately, also, blossom, foliage, and fruit are inviting prey to apple-scab. The variety originated in Esopus, New York, some years previous to 1800, and has long been grown from the Atlantic to the Pacific." - Cyclopedia of Hardy Fruits, by U. P. Hedrick, 1922

So consider yourself informed.  The Spitz has a reputation for attracting lots of diseases.  But, if you could speak with Thomas Jefferson, who mentioned the Spitz frequently in his notes, you'll probably learn that the pleasures of this classic apple far outweigh any drawbacks.

Purchase an Esopus Spitzenburg Apple Tree

The Definition of Horsepower

Along with the industrial revolution, came a multitude of mechanisms used to "harness" energy sources such as water power and steam power.  This necessitated some uniform means of describing how powerful these machines could be.  The most ubiquitous source of power in those agrarian days, was the horse.  This was the most logical base of reference.  So along came "horsepower" (also noted as two words, "horse power").

But how much power is horse power?  What most people don't understand is that time is an element of the equation.  Here, we find the definition tucked into the corner of a page of the November 6, 1856 issue of the Maine Farmer:

"The power of a horse is understood to be that which will elevate a weight of 33,000 pounds the height of one foot in a minute of time, equal to about 90 pounds at the rate of four miles an hour."

But who devised this definition?  It was James Watt of course...the guy who invented the steam engine.  His need for a way to explain a "quantity" of power was urgent.  How would he promote his machines, if he couldn't present how much power they provided?  Watt needed a way to explain a steam engine's capability in a way to which people could relate.  So he did some tests, and established "the power of a horse."

Later, when Watt's steam engines came to be used to generate elecricity, we needed a means of explaining how much energy was produced.  Along came the watt (as in "60-watt light bulb"), a unit named after James Watt.  But The Heirloom Orchardist doesn't have the horsepower to explain how that term came about.

Image Source:  Popular Mechanics Magazine, August 1939

The Christmas Tree; Preparations for a Victorian Christmas (Part 2)

Last week, we read Edward Luckhurt's suggestions on how to decorate the house for Christmas.  Now lets learn something on the craft of Christmas tree decorating.  Mr. Lockhurst was a member of England's Royal Horticultural Society.  His comments are taken from his 1878 essay on Christmas Preparations, published in the Journal of Horticulture and Cottage Gardener:

"For a Christmas tree, there is nothing better than a Spruce (or) Fir planted in a tub or barrel with the head knocked out and filled with moist sand.  Let the tub be large, so as to avoid all risk of an upset; let the lower branches of the tree be well fastened to it with cords to keep all steady, and cover both tub and cords with green baize.  If there is a large party, say about fifty children, and a lofty room can be had, the tree should be quite 15 feet high, to afford space on the branches for presents and the usual accompaniments of flags, Chinese lanterns, and other candle holders and ornaments."

"Have plenty of flags near the top of the tree and on the ends of the branches, and take care there is nothing inflammable immediately over the candles.  Three or four tapers on long sticks will be wanted for lighting, and there should be a few pieces of damp sponge also on long sticks at hand for extinguishers in case of anything taking fire."

Wow.  Is Lockhurst serious?  Did he really suggest that a tree fire could be controlled with "a few pieces of damp sponge"?  Look, we've all heard that victorians used candles to decorate their Christmas trees.  But I've never really thought that much about it.  I just shake my head, and think "that was kinda dangerous."

But to state that a few pieces of damp sponge strapped on the end of a stick would extinguish a dry, resinous, burning Christmas tree?  That's just stupid.

Amazingly, candles were still being used on Christmas trees, well into the 20th century.  A December 1923 Popular Mechanics magazine stated that the "manufacture of Christmas-tree candles begins the day after the holiday, and continues throughout the year."  Despite the obvious danger, the practice remained popular.  I'm amazed by the casual nature of the following comment, published in an 1913 article about Christmas tree decorating:

"The element of danger associated with Christmas-tree candles makes us hesitate to include them in these suggestions. On the other hand, twenty little candle-lights glimmering through the dark masses of the evergreen make an illumination soft and kindly; a candle is the most beautiful light-giver ever yet devised by man."

Yeah, and a burning Christmas tree in the parlor is pretty spectacular too!

 

Preparations for a Victorian Christmas (Part 1)

In 1878, Mr. Edward Luckhurt, a member of England's Royal Horticultural Society, wrote an essay on Christmas Preparations for the Journal of Horticulture and Cottage Gardener.  Nowadays, it's not uncommon to find descriptions of Victorian Christmas decorating.  But it's another thing altogether to read suggestions on how to decorate for Christmas, written during the Victorian Era.

"Christmas is coming, and special preparations must be made in the garden, the house, the market.  A busy time it is, therefore, especially for the gardener; for does not he wish to make the surroundings of the house as trim and ornamental as possible, so as to be in keeping with its interior decorations?  To this end, miniature shrubs, many of them gay with berries, are planted in the flower beds; shrubbery borders are forked over, the shrubs pruned, and the trimmings turned to account for household decoration.

"This is frequently an elaborate affair involving much time and painstaking, the greatest difficulty often being to hit upon some new design, something different to the efforts of former years.  Good taste will, of course, lead to satisfactory results.  Without it there should be no ambitious flights, no aiming at novel effect, but rather a quiet tone should prevail with plenty of warmth about it.  Spiral wreaths to pillars, festoons along walls between pictures, Ivy along cornices and architraves, neat wreaths of Box, berried and variegated Holly, Laurustinus, and Cotoneaster around pictures, mirrors, and doorways."

Well, one thing's for sure.  Mr. Luckhurt's account on what to use for Christmas decoration was not very engaging.  He was no Martha Stewart. His marketing skills leave something to be desired.

The 1881 Census for Buxted, Sussex, England identifies Edward Luckhurst as the male head of the household, married, age 42, born Kent; "occupation Land Steward and Gardener."  So regarding plants, he knew his stuff.  Of course, it's not very surprising that "Boxwood, berried and variegated Holly" are on his list.  In large victorian cities, holly was frequently sold door-to-door during the holiday season.  And those plants are still being used. 

But, Laurustinus (Viburnum tinus) and Cotoneaster?  The Heirloom Orchardist never considered using them to decorate.  Hmm...perhaps even Martha Stewart could learn something from Mr. Luckhurst.

Graft your wild apple trees. Why not?!

"Here on this rugged and woody hillside, has grown an apple tree, not planted by man, no relic of a former orchard, but a natural growth, like the pines and oaks." - Henry D. Thoreau

Thoreau called them "wild apples."  Today they're more apt to be"crab apples," or "volunteers."  Whatever they are, I'm quite excited about this suggestion I found in the December 1888 issue of The Orchard and Garden Magazine:

"A few weeks since while walking over a large hillside farm, we noticed, growing along fences here and there in the open fields, fine, thrifty apple trees.  They were seedlings, coming up from a stray seed dropped by birds or small animals, and the fruit, so far as noticed, was worthless.  There were not less than a score of these trees."

"It would cost less than a dollar each to graft them into first-class fruit and in three year's time they would repay it.  Why not do it?  There are thousands of such trees all over the country which should be similarly treated."

Well, what say you?  Why not do it?

Here's what The Heirloom Orchardist says:  Do it.  Plan for it now, order your scions, and do some grafting early next year.  If you've got a scrubby volunteer crab apple growing in any sunny spot on your land, you've got a great opportunity to create an Heirloom Apple tree.

Consider the following:

1. Your crabapple tree has never been considered anything special.  2. You've always wanted to give grafting a try.  3. If the grafts don't take, you've expended limited time and effort.  4.If the grafts do take, you've created a fantastic asset that'll last for years.

Did someone say "lemons to lemonade" or "windfalls to cider"?  This suggestion of 1888 really zeros-in on what The Heirloom Orchardist is all about.  That is, reading up on the way our agrarian ancestors worked and thought, learning from it, and adapting it to this day-and-age.  There's a lot we can learn.

Pruning Apple Trees; 6 Reasons to do it NOW

On the topic of Pruning Apple Trees, we find the following published in The Maine Farmer, on December 27, 1855:

"MR. EDITOR: - Having been in the practice of grafting, some thirty years or more…I think I may claim…to have gained knowledge. I propose, in this communication, to say a few words about pruning apple trees.  I am aware that different persons select different seasons, and each one gives his reasons for his favorite time of year.  I, Mr. Editor, prefer the months of November and December, for many reasons."

"One is that the stump will remain sound for many years, and the wood will be sound after it is healed over.  This no fancy picture.  Another is, sap never oozes out of the wound.  A third, the whole of the sap, when it rises in the spring, will go into the remaining branches, without check or interruption.  A fourth, you may walk about in the tree without injuring it by loosening the bark.  Fifth, if you take most of the top off, what is left will grow vigorously the next season.  Lastly, those who will, can attend to it at this time of year as well as any other."

William Burns
New Gloucester, Dec. 10, 1855.

The Heirloom Orchardist likes this guy.  William Burns is a straight talking, practical thinker... not to mention, a clear master of the obvious.

So now, during the off-season, prune your apple trees. I'm sure you can attend to it this time of year as well as any other.

This is no fancy picture.