Category: Uncategorized

Fwd: Final: EPISODE 529 HIGH PARK CURLING CLUB – while Covid 19 rages Feb.7, 2022

Note to Peter Bryden and Stephen Low. Could either one of you send this story

out to all our members. I have sent it to Kristy at the club already.

Note to Kristy…Do what you wish with this , Alan.

EPISODE 529 HIGH PARK CURLING CLUB: COVID 19 PANDEMIC RAGES… DOCUMENTED… FEB. 7, 2022

alan skeoch

Feb. 7, 2022

FIVE years from now the pandemic will only be a memory. So I thought documentation seemed necessary. Our league, the so called

Teachers League has been a fixture at the High Park Curling Club for as long as I can remember. Before that, several teachers were

part of the founding group deep in the past. Even before the great Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918 – 1919. We survived one pandemic

and will likely survive this one as well. If we are careful!

Today, Feb. 7, 2022 we are trying to curl in the midst of the worst epidemic in Canadian history. What is it like to curl when that minisucle

virus is hanging in the air? It is hell!

Alan Skeoch

The High Park Curling Club…oldest curling club in Toronto

The High Park Curling Club front deck. Leisure and good times.

There were better times deep in the past. One winter we even curled on the ice of Grenadier Pond.

SEE THAT RED STAR ON MY HAT…SYMBOL OF THE TIMES

History: Big events were happening when we celebrated the Grand Match on Grenadier Pond. The Berlin Wall was coming down as

the Soviet Union imploded. My son, Kevin, was working in Slovakia and sent me this Russian Field Officers hat from their fiasco

in Afghanistan. Costume. Also I was able to buy an old buffalo skin coat made from the skins of the buffalo slaughter in the Canadian West.

The Grenadier Ice was thick enough for curlers. If it failed we would go down to join the Grenadier soldiers who supposedly drowned

here in the war of 1912. That same summer we rented a rowboat and recorded a CBC radio story on our tongue in cheek search for

the heavy cannons left by the unfortunate Grenadiers. The Grenadier story was a myth. One of our sons, a diver,

got to the bottom of the pond and reported ,

“Dad, there is nothing down there but muck, I rammed my arm in up to my shoulder and found nothing.” If our Grand Match of curling

went through the ice future generations would find our curling stones and maybe, just maybe, they would find that Soviet Red Star on my hat.

And a story would be written about the Soviet agent who drowned at Grenadier pond. A story, Not the truth. A story just like the

story of the British Grenadier retreating in the War of 1812.

And that is why we need this photo essay about the terrible years of 2020 to 2022 when a virus put us all in a state of fear. A true story.

Other years we had grand celebrations at the High Park Curling Club

Costume varied.

This curler would be denied entrance to the High Park Curling Club on this day, Feb. 7, 2022…Why?

We are fearful of contamination. If one of just comes down with Covid 19, then all bets are off. Shutdown

will happen. Our club executive fear that disaster could destroy the club so some stringent rules are being

applied.

Either pass the test or stay home. Most of us are triple vaccinated…all are double vaccinated

Club Manager

Kristy Rawluck

kristy@highparkclub.com

Kristy is expected to make sure anyone curling here has documents to prove it.

Ken Jinkinson

This document is needed each time I enter the High Park Curling Club.

Kristy Rawluk – checking documentation of each member’s vaccination

Ken Jinkinson…signing in at checkpoint one

There was a time when curling did not require policing and the trophies were all we worried about

Bob Murray…checking in

Ellen Freedman….writer of plays, perhaps the great play about curling to come in the future

Peter Morris…lead curler, Skeoch team. (We have three leads…Shaymus and Joe are waiting in the wings)

Peter Brydan, Chairman of our League

Peter Brydan and Bill McKay

There was a time when we could actually talk to each other.

Stephen Low…executive member

Glen Grey, vice…takeout specialist.

Dave Dingwall

Monica Gemeinhardt, our team second, threw a perfect rock….RIGHT ON THE NOSE!

MONICA got him RIGHT ON THE NOSE

TEAM SKEOCH: Monica Gemeinhardt, Glen Grey, Peter Morris

and Alan Skeoch (red coat)

February 8, 2022
EISODE 528 BILL GREG AND THE OLYMPICS OF COLLECTING — TANKS, HALF TRCKS, ARMY TRUCKS

EPISODE 428 BILL GREG AND THE OLYMPICS OF COLLECTING — TANKS, HALF TRACKS, ARMY TRUCKS

alan skeoch

Feb. 6, 2022

courtesy Toronto Star DR. BILL GREGG AND HIS COLLECTON AT ROCKWOOD, ONTARIO (BEFORE DISPERSAL)

“a series of books on Canadian military vehicles written by the late Bill Gregg of Acton in the 1970s kicked collecting into high gear. Jeeps were cheap, sometimes selling for as little as $50, which helped many people get into collecting.”

Brian Asbury

PHOTO COURTESY TORONTO STAR: A TRIBUTE TO DR. BILL GREGG, COLLECTOR EXTRORDINAIRE

Ah, yes, the winter Olympics are on right now in Beijing, China. Super

athletes from all around the world.

That brought to mind Dr.Bill Greg who was, to my mind, a potential gold medal winner in the

Olympics of collecting. Bill was a few years older than me which meant he must

have been a 10 year old kid in 1945 when the Toronto waterfront was filled with military machines

being returned from Europe. All I remember was seemingly endless numbers of jeeps

but Bill Greg seems to have seen more. Something triggered him … when he became

an adult he began buying the machines of World War II…big things…like tanks and half tracks.

Later we both met as directors of the ill fated Ontario Agricultural Museum (Milton) which got

all tied up in a logistical nightmare. I remember a private conversation we shared dealing

with the failure of the Museum to be viable. We were both collectors. Bill was big time. I was small time.

But both of us gave artifacts to the OAM. Some of mine are still there…I hope. Mothballed forever it

seems.

Meanwhile Bill was into a much larger kind of collecting. Military vehicles including tanks, half tracks, artillery

and lots of jeeps. Yes, he collected tanks. Hard to imagine but he had the space and buying a tank

was not expensive. Most buyers only wanted the engines…the rest was scrap. Eventually Bill had

about 40 or more of these weapons of war. Eventually Bill had to face the problem of what to do with

his collection when he was gone. At that moment it is a shock to discover often that no one gives

a sweet goddamn.

I was not there when the collection was dispersed. Did not even know that flat bed trucks were

busy getting the tanks on board for a trip westward. I did know much later that Bill was

depressed that his weapons of war had to be shipped to the west because there was only

limited space for these machines in Ontario (War Museum).

Note: I was lucky enough to visit the war museum in Korea a couple of years ago. Shocked.

In the heart of Seoul is an incredible museum that even includes a full size B52 nuclear

bomber and also the names of Canadians killed in the Korean War. Koreans remember

just as the Dutch remember but Canadians prefer to get on with their lives and push museums

into the background. How often have you been to a Canadian museum? Tell the truth!

Never or nearly never, I suspect.

DISCOVERY IN A JUNK SHOP

In a junk, sorry, wrong term. In a collectibles shop in Rockwood Ontario I discovered

a brown filing folder with photos of Dr. Bill Gregg’s collection. How these pictures

had such a sad end escapes me. So I put together this Episode in memory of Dr.

Bill Gregg. If there ever was a collectors Olympics, Dr. Bill Gregg would be one of the

medal winners in my opinion.

QUESTION FOR MARRIED READERS MALE OR FEMALE:

Try this question on your other half. “Dear, I was able to buy a

Sherman dtank from Dr. Bill Gregg, could we renovate the garage?”

Courtesy Toronto Star Archives BILL GREGG AND HIS COLLECTION

COLLECTION OF PICTURES FOUND FOR SALE IN ROCKWOOD SHOP

MILITARY VEHICLE COLLECTOR BRIAN ASBURY WROTE

“For the 11 million people who were alive in Canada then, the production of military vehicles in Canada approached 800,000 vehicles. Canada produced an incredible number of standardized vehicles designed for military use.

“Initially Britain requested it, and we were to be the production ground for British ideas, which is why all our Canadian trucks in World War II are right-hand drive. The big automakers made the chassis and drivelines, and subletted the bodies to smaller companies.”

In much the same way Ford and Willys co-operated in the U.S., Ford of Canada and GM of Canada simultaneously built a Canadian-specific series of heavy trucks, called the 15 CWT (spoken “15-hundred-weight”), 30 CWT and 60 CWT, depending on their size.

Asbury owns about 45 vehicles, ranging from a small Welbike folding paratrooper scooter made in England, to a huge, six-wheeled amphibious DUKW, which he describes as “basically a six-wheel-drive truck with a boat all around it.”

Like most collectors, he started with a Jeep. “That’s what most people can handle and afford, and it’s a well-known brand; even a 2-year-old kid on the street can recognize a Jeep. But then it’s usually a progression from a Jeep to a three-quarter-ton truck, then to a 2- 1/2 ton, and then something that’s armoured or maybe even armed, like a Ferret scout car.”

Jeeps became plentiful in the mid-1950s, Simundson says, when the army got rid of most of its World War II vehicles, ranging from trucks to tanks. But back then, the vehicles were bought to be used, not collected.

“They went to service stations or were used as snow plows,” he says. “The really nice armoured cars and tanks were bought for their engines and parts.

According to Simundson, a series of books on Canadian military vehicles written by the late Bill Gregg of Acton in the 1970s kicked collecting into high gear. Jeeps were cheap, sometimes selling for as little as $50, which helped many people get into collecting.” (quote from Brian Asbury

alan skeoch

Post Script: My biggest rescue was this small Etobicoke barn doomed on the farm where J.Shaver Woodsworth was born (founder of the CCF now the NDP}, Fortunately

for me the building was filled with scrap aluminum which netted me $1,000 nearly the

cost of moving and reconstructing on our farm. I could have put down a better cement pad if I only

knew that Qjick drying cement is really quick. Marjorie supported the project once she knew the cost

would not come out of or housekeeping funds which were very limited. Looking at the building today

I was suddenly aware that it could hide a tank or a half track.

February 5, 2022

EPISODE 527 THE MAIDENS BLUSH APPLE TREE

Peek in this knot hole…Damn red squirrel has filled the apple tree knot hole with walnuts.

EPISODE 527 THE ‘MAIDENS BLUSH’ APPLE TREE.

alan skeoch

Jan. 31, 2022

Maiden’s Blush^[59]^[28]^[266]^[267]		Burlington, New Jersey, US	<1817	W 86, H 69. Stalk 19 mm. A thin-skinned, flattened apple. Pale yellow-green skin has a telltale crimson blush on the side that faced the sun. Flesh white, crisp, very juicy, subacid, good. Susceptible to scab. Heavy annual bearer. Good cooker. Excellent variety for drying because the flesh remains white and bright. Use September – November.	Cooking, (Eating)

The Maiden Blush apple tree is one of the oldest American apples. Coxe wrote in 1817 that Maiden’s Blush apples were popular in the Philadelphia markets of his day. Beautiful apple of pale thin skinned, lemon-yellow color with crimson blush. Flesh is white, sprightly, crisp and tender with a sharp, acid flavor that mellows when fully ripe. Maiden Blush apple tree is an excellent grower, comes into bearing young. Dependable producer, long harvest period, and displays resistance to fireblight.

Maiden Blush organic heirloom apple tree

Is it still alive? There is (was) a lonely apple tree standing between the

farm house and the red barn. I remember that farm auction as it it was yesterday

even though it was some 40 or even 50 years ago.

The farm is located north of Grand Valley, right at the second bridge over the Grand River…east side of

the road. It was a very tidy farm on auction day. A small farm selling mostly obsolete farm

equipment that reflected on time when most farms in Ontario were 100 acres in size.

Farm sales always seem to have a tragic aspect…a feeling that something will be gone and

never seen again.

Farm auctions now, in the second decade of the 21st century are rare. So many were put

up for sale between the years 1960 and 2000 that observers could not fail to notice

a great change was happening to rural Ontario. Surviing farms got larger and larger

using machines that cost $200,000 upwards. If the old barns were not pulled down then

they slowly fell apart with their carcases dotting the landscape like a war zone. Now, in 2022

even the carcasses are mostly gone.

So many lost farmsteads that most are lost in the confusion of my memory cells.

But this one remains. Why? Because of one lone apple tree loaded with fruit

ripe and ready for picking. The owner was present as were his neighbours.

“Apple tree is loaded,” I said, testing to see if he was open to conversation. Many owners

of auction farms are not. I can tell by the fire pits in the field where all their family documents

have been burned wiping out memories…or trying to do so.

“Pick what you want, just going to waste.”

“Taste nice…sweet .” As I Remember the apples were green with a bit of yellow, small

by super market standards…some, however, the size of tennis balls. And remarkable due

to the absence of worm holes or apple scab. This was one nice apple tree. All with the

distinctive red ‘blush’…made the apple rather intimate.

“What kind of apples?”

“ Maidens Blush”

“What kind?” I asked again…not sure of his response.

“Maidens Blush, old tree.”

At that Grand Valle auction I bid and won a small box of copper stencils. Never used. Must have been a winter plan for

an orhard that never happened. Gardeners and farmers do that kind of dreaming in February. I bought some copper nails

and mounted many of these stencils on an old baseboard as a gift for Marjorie. Selfish kind of gift, I know that.

Most prominent on the board is the Maidens Blush apple variety which I believed was a lost kind of apple. Here is the

list from the stencil board;

Ontario

Alexander

G. Russet (golden?)

Baldwin

Maidens Blush (*several other names, same apple)

Snow

Wealthy

R. Russet (red?)

Duchess

Belflower

Str. Streaks

Ribston

B.Orange (b?)

Wagener

Spitz

Mann

King

N.Spy (northern)

Can.Red (canadian?}

Culvert

Greenings

Talman Sweet

Seek

APPLE VARIETIES BOGGLE THE MIND

IN 1905, American pomologist W.H.Ragan published a 400 page book

titled ’Nomenclature of the Apple’. a compendium of Known apple

varieties between 1804 and 1904. The list is enormous….17,000 apple

varieties? SEVENTEEN THOUSAND! All with distinctive names.

Later the list was pared down to 14,000 when the overlapping names

were catalogued. FOURTEEN THOUSAND !

The 19th century was a period of ‘unparalleled interest in apples.’

What kind of apples? Many were cider apples. But lots were also

eating apples…and cooking apples. Cooking apples … apple pie

apples in other words. What variety comes to mind immediately?

The best cooking apple stencil is on my board…NORTHERN SPY. Discovered

almost by accident and rejected initially because colour was not prominent.

(see source Tom Hensley, June 2,2005)

MAIDENS BLUSH…RECONSIDERED

My snap judgment that I had found a lost apple variety of apple on

that single tree north of Grand Valley was dashed when I punched the

name into my computer. Turns out that Maidens Blush was (and remains)

one of the top ancient apple varieties still grown by heritage apple tree planters.

A year or so later I found another Maiden’s Blush tree on a doomed orchard

near Ravenna, Ontario. Once sold all the field apple trees were uprooted…killed

so diseases from an uncared for orchard would not contaminate other orchards.

But the killers missed one tree that grew near the house…a Maiden’s Blush

survivor I was told. Truth? I rely on the former owner for that.

Damned if there isn’t even a winery in the Napa Valley of California that

markets an apple wine under the name ‘Maiden’s Blush’. See Nashoba

Valley Winery. 49% percent Maidens Blush., 49% pears, 2% elder berries.

Wouldn’t it be nice to buy a bottle…cost about $20 Canadian. Doubt

carried in Canadian Liquor Stores.

It is even possible to buy a Maiden’s Blush Cultivar for $44.90…were

they not sold out. Sold out means apple fanciers are still planting Maiden Blush

apple trees in 2022…in the 21st century.

Maiden Blush Apple

$44.90

An award winning rose made from 49% Apples – 49% Pears – 2% Elderberries. Subtly perfumed, with an alluring flavor of apples, pears and elderberries. Similar in style to White Zinfandel. Named after the Maiden’s Blush apple, one of over 80 “antique” apple varieties grown in our orchard.

CONCLUSION

ART AND THE APPLE:

I HAVE already written 3 Episodes on apples. Probably overkill for most readers.

Let me leave some fine art as a conclusion. Apple artists have left all of us a legacy

of artistic treasures…apple varieties with romantic names.

STURMER PIPPIN 1831 SUFFOLK, ENGLAND

Sturmer Pippin^[370]^[6]^[8]^[21]		Sturmer,Haverhill, Suffolk, England	<1831	A bright greenish-yellow apple with a reddish-brown blush, often on one face only. W 69, H 62. Stak 12–25 mm. Flesh white, crisp, juicy, subacid, aromatic. One of the best English keeping apples, with proper storage Sturmer Pippin lasts 4 to 5 months. Flavour is sprightly, more sharp than sweet when first picked, but improves dramatically in storage, becoming sweeter and richer, while maintaining its crisp texture. This keeping ability made it ideal for long journeys, as such, it was brought to Australia where it is still widely grown. Parent of Granny Smith. Pick mid October. Use January – April.

WHITE PIPPIN CANADA USA

White Pippin(syn. Canada Pippin)^[3]^[392]		US or Canada		A yellow apple. W 80, H 65-70. Stalk 12-18 mm. Flesh white, crisp, juicy, subacid, very good to best. Use January – March.

WINTER MAIDEN’S BLUSH 1850 USA

RED ASTRACHAN 1800

Red Astrachan^[6]^[325]^[326]^[327]		Russia or Sweden	c. 1800	Extremely resistant to frost. H 76, W 82. Flesh white, fine, crisp, tender, juicy, subacid, aromatic, good to very good. The tree does not attain a large size. Pick and use in August.	Cooking

February 3, 2022

EPISODE 526 THE LONELY APPLE TREE (last survivor in Edward Freeman’s orchard)

EPISODE 426 THE LONELY APPLE TREE.

alan skeoch

Jan. 31, 2022

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February 2, 2022
Fwd: EPISODE 524 THE HEREFORDSHIRE POMONA 1885 BY EDITH BULL AND ALICE ELLIS (TWO FORGOTTEN LADIES)

EPISODE 524 THE HEREFORDSHIRE POMONA 1885 (by Edith Bull and Alice Ellis – two forgotten ladies)

alan skeoch

January 30, 2022

I love the way the ladies included apple blemishes…so true to life.

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Edith Bull at her easel….where is a picture of Alice Ellis?…these

two ladies painted apples for several years of their lives…but

both are forgotten. Did Edith really paint apples with that dress on?

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Henry Bull…his daughter, Edith Bull, should be famous but

seems to be forgotten along with Alice Ellis.

Picking apples with a shovel…

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Picking apple by hand….

“Hey, Marjorie, I just got an email from Dan…he found a copy of the Herefordshire Pomona for sale.”

“You should buy it…You’ve been talking about the book for60 years.:”

“Good idea…we should buy it. But there is one small problem.

“Which is?

“The price.”

“I bet it’s around $100…rare book.”

“Guess again.”

“How much?”

“$17,937.98”

“What! You must be kidding!”

“No…that’s U.S. Funds and does not include the $20 shipping.”

“We can only afford the shipping…twenty bucks.”

“Why is it so expensive?”

“That is my story today…it’s quite a story…I have been thinking how to start the story…how to

engage readers. That $17,937.98 price should do it.”

“What was your original plan?”

“I felt those two women who spent years drawing and using water colours to illustrate apples

would be a good start. But the story is so complicated that much could be lost.”

“What were their names?”

“Alice B. Ellis and Edith E. Bull.”

“Pictures of them?”

“Only a picture of Edith Bull in front of her easel….all I could find.”

“And concluded by welcoming very cordially the presence of the two ladies, Miss EUis and Miss Bull, whose great artistic talents have enabled the committee to publish that magnificent work —The Herefordshire Pomona—a work that will carry down the renown of the Woolhope Club for many generations to come.

April 3, 1883 WOOLHOPE NATURALIST FIELD CLUB”

“Did the ladies come up with the idea of chromolithographs of all the apples in Herefordshire?”

“No…the idea grew from conversations between three men and a wealthy supporter.”

“When?”

“Between 1876 and finally published in 1885….these guys were members of the Woolhope Naturalist

Club in Hereford…”

“Woolhope…what?”

“Woolhope Naturalist Club…around 200 well healed men determined to unravel the mysteries of

the world around them. They collected fossils, dug up Roman forts, admired ancient oak trees,

collected and illustrated mushrooms…then published their discoveries. Their reports are all on

the internet if you can find them…hundreds and hundreds of pages with few illustrations. These

were not dabblers…these were Victorian men, most men, prompted, I guess, by the work

of Charles Darwin.”

“Fungus and mushrooms…sounds sort of odd.”

“The Woolhope Club was not just devoted to apples. As a matter of fact the mention of

the Hereford Pomona is not easy to find in the club minutes.”

Doctor Robert Hogg, 1886.

Reverend Charles Bulmer. (His two sons founded Bulmer’s Cider Company which

eventually dominated cider production in Herefordshire now sold under Strongbow name I believe)

Doctor Henry Graves Bull (1818-1885) (His daughter Edith Bull and Alice Ellis

used watercolours to paint all the apple and pear varieties in years between 1876 and 1883)

STEPS THAT LED TO CREATION OF THE HEREFORDSHIRE POMONA

1) June 1876: Reverend Charles Bulmer invited Doctor Henry Graves to see the apple exhibition in Hereford

Doctor Hogg was worlds leading expert on apples in 1876…published the 759 page “Fruit Manual” for head gardeners.

Reverend Bulmer was vice at Credenhill , Herefordshire, and a member of the Woolhope Naturalists Field Club and had

just won second prize for his perry (Pear Wine) perhaps judged by Dr. Hogg at the Bath and West Show of 1876.

2) The Woolhope Naturalists Field Club members were interested in diverse subjects from Roman ruins to Ancient Oak trees to fossils,

mushrooms and apples, etc. etc. The minutes of the Woolhope Club can be found on the internet…hundreds and hundreds

of pages, mostly print, several engravings. In 1876 Club members were worried about neglect of Hereford orchards making

the apples an pears unmarketable. The question:”Why are so few of our apples in grocery stores?” (my question imposed)

“We owe it to those who come after us to maintain an strengthen our title to the garden of England!” (Club comment in 1876)

3) Oct. 14, 1875: Woolhope Naturalist Club has its first apple and pear exhibition to try snd identify local varieties. On display

were 128 apples and 62 pears. This was big step that was to become immense in subsequent years.

Exhibitions in Hereford

1875 — 128 apples

1876 __ 637 apples and pears

1883 __ 2.500 apples on display inside in Hereford

1,000 apples on display outside in Hereford

1883 __ 10,500 apple varieties in national exhibition Oct. 4 to 25 Chiswick

1885__ 600 copies of Herefordshire Pomona

4) 1878: Dr. Hogg offers to promote and record apples and pears worthy of attention and cultivation.

The ides of a “Herefordshire Pomona” is born with Dr. Henry Bull as general editor and Dr. Hogg as

technical editor.

5) 1878-1883: Two ladies recruited to do the illustrations, Edith Bull and Alice Ellis, to replicate worthy

apple and pear varieties for chromolithographic reproduction. Alice Blanche Ellis was a gold medal winner

from a Bloomsbury School of Art (no picture that I could find) while Ediths Elizabeth Bull was Doctor

Bull’s daughter (picture included)

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6) 1885: Herefordshire Pomona completed with 600 copies of the two volumes book finished…”the most

perfect and thorough and artistically beautiful work ever published on the subject.” (Woolhope Transactions 1884)

Chosen: 262 apples and 169 pears in “lavish chromolithograph plates from watercolours”

7) 1883 National Apple Congress in Chiswick Gardens was major, indeed phenomenal success with 236 exhibitors

and 10m500 dishes of apples. When closely examined there were 1,545 varieties classified by purpose, season, size,

shape, surface texture and colour. “Never before had so many varieties even brought together in one place,

and probably never will again.” (Jane Morgan) The best eating apples were names..King of the Pippins, Cox;s

Orane Pippin and Ribston Pippin.

The National Apple Congress was so popular that railway companies offered cheap tickets so working class

people could attend and the exhibit was extended a week.

Drawings from the Apple Congress ar Chiswick, Oct 20, 1883

“Visitors are requested not to touch the fruit”…obviously being ignored in sketch

8) Soon afterward Reverend Bulmer’s two sons constructed a cider factory in

Hereford that became the world’s largest cider maker and Herefordshire still

has more apple orchard than any other county in the United Kingdom.

(See “When Doctor Hogg Went to Hereford)

PIUTTING EDWARD FREEMAN BACK IN THE STORY

“ALAN, the apple paintings/engravings are stunning but what motivated you to do all

this research?”

“Granddad did.”

“You said that you knew little about his life.”

“He was born in 1871, that makes him 5 years old in 1876 when sudden interest in apples began.

“Too young to know an apple from a soccer ball.”

“True but that would make him 12 years old in 1883 when the Hereford Pomona was released.”

“On the verge of adulthood back then…at 12 he became a gardener’s boy and then in 1884 a gardener apprentice

and y 1894 soon to become the head gardener of Eywood Court in 1898.”

“He grew up with this apple hysteria in full bloom.”

“How old were those apple trees at Eywood?”

“”Never saw them.”

“There were two walled gardens…first one was a kitchen and flower garden…then

behind the dividing wall was the orchard where some scraggy looking apple trees stood … bet dollars

to doughnuts those trees dated back to Edward Freeman’s time. Apple trees can live

for 60 years or more.”

“Do you know for sure that Edward Freeman was interested in apples?”

“I do. this is the year 2022 and there is still one last apple tree in granddads Canadian orchard. It looks

bad, uncared for, but it is still alive. That tree and others were in full life when Was in the garden seventy years ago.”

“What kind of apples?”

“Wormy apples…scabby too.”

“But what kind of apples?”

“Might be neglected MacIntosh…I have no idea though.”

“How do apple trees get their names?”

“Same way as street names…some person gives them a name.”

“Why not name that tree then?”

“NO.”

“Why not?”

“I have my eye on a wild apple tree near the field gate.”

“Wild apples are no good.”

“Usually so…but every once in a while a wild tree turns out to be swell”

“And the name?”

“Pick a name…I am open to suggestions.

“What does the tree look like?”

“not likely to win a beauty contest but last year the apples were nice”

“Name?”

“Open to all … Name the tree!”

alan skeoch

Jan. 30,, 2022

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POST SCRPT: THE NOTE SENT TO ME BY DAN BOWYER RE: PRICE OF MINT CONDITION HEREFORDSHIRE POMONA

January 30, 2022