Did you know the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station has the world’s largest collection of apple varieties? It’s a pomological Noah’s Ark, with 2,500 varieties hailing from as far away as Kazakhstan, where apples first originated. The collection has attracted the attention of many recently, including Michael Pollan, in his bestseller The Botany of Desire, and artist Jessica Rath, whose ceramic apples and tree installations were inspired by the Station’s apple collection and breeder Susan Brown. Now another piece of its collection has been highlighted, in Mother Jones. They go ga-ga over the 1905 two-tome book The Apples of New York, one of the finest resources for the amateur New England apple enthusiast–“Its nearly 200 illustrations really are worth bragging about, and not just for their scientific value either. They capture the full beauty of apple hues during a time before widespread color photography.” On top of detailed historical and scientific scholarship of 800 apple varieties, the books also teaches readers step-by-step how to identify a mystery apple.
Check out some of CALS’ other cool collections in the latest issue of periodiCALS.
