Yanshui Xu – a Cornell doctoral student from China – took a shift at the 35th Ithaca Apple Harvest festival, spoke with festival goers and handed out paper bags for hours on Sept. 30.
Yanshui Xu during his shift at the Apple Harvest Festival. Photo courtesy of the Cornell Chronicle.
Xu works on grape research with Bruce Reisch, professor of horticulture in at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, New York. Xu earned his undergraduate degree at the Nanjing Agricultural College and arrived in the United States Sept. 27 – his first time here.
Hundreds of fruit fans stopped by Cornell’s Society of Horticulture festival booth Sept. 29-Oct. 1 for a taste of the future. Among the popular apples were scab-resistant, yet-to-be-named cultivars NY75414, NY65707 and NJ109 – a delicious variety that has pear-like taste qualities.
Throughout the festival, students and festival patrons tasted several varieties at the booth and filled-up quarter- and half-pecks full of Cornell-grown varieties.
- Blaine Friedlander
