ben davis and missouri pippin
I used to have the beginnings of an apple orchard. I moved away from it, and I doubt I'll ever again have an orchard (or the beginnings of one). When I was interested in apples, I researched Ben Davis and Missouri Pippin apples, because those are the two varieties Almanzo Wilder said he grew on Rocky Ridge Farm.

In 1915, 35 varieties of apples were commonly grow. In 1964, that number was 18. I believe now there is a push to grow and sell more heirloom varieties, so hopefully the number of varieties commonly grown has increased. When you go to the store, though, what do you see? Red Delicious, Granny Smith and a few others, right? Those apples are in the store because they're good keepers, taste good, and look pretty.

Ben Davis accounted for almost 30 percent of the apples grown in the early 1900s. Good luck finding either apples or trees today, although a few mail-order nurseries do sell Ben Davis.

Ben Davis dates back to the early 19th century. Baldwin apples dominated the northern orchards and Ben Davis (or its high colored forms, Black Ben and Gano) dominated the south. The tree of Ben Davis is generally vigorous, hardy, comes into bearing early, bears annually, and is abundantly productive. It is highly susceptible to nailhead canker disease, which is fatal. The striped bright red fruits are firm and would keep under normal cellar conditions into the winter. Because of the firmness, many growers shipped Ben Davis into the deep south where they were handled with shovels. In the early 1900s, boxcars piled high with Ben Davis apples were parked on a railroad siding in the south and people came to buy shovels-full at a low price. This provided low income families with fruit. Even after a Ben Davis apple becomes soft, it can be used for apple sauce.

Missouri Pippin was a fairly new apple when Almanzo raised it. In 1839, a man named Brinkley Hornsby planted seed from an apple he brought to his farm in Johnson County. The tree bore fruit in 1854. He named it "dollars and cents" apple and propagated and sold it in St. Louis beginning in 1869. The apple is greenish-yellow, covered with red stripes, a late-bearing apple. Size is medium to large, roundish to conical and flattened on the ends; yellowish-white flesh, firm, coarse and a good keeper. Other names for this apple today include Stone's Eureka, Missouri Keeper, and Missouri Orange.

This is a list of the apples (by popularity) grown in the early 1900s (how many varieties do you recognize?): Baldwin, Ben Davis, Northern Spy, Winesap, Rhode Island Greening, Jonathan, Rome Beauty, Early Harvest, Wealthy, Grimes Golden, York Imperial, Maiden Blush, Oldenburg, Red Astrachan, Fall Pippin, Gano, Yellos Newton, Limbertwig, Red June, Stayman, Yellow Transparent, Yellow Bellflower, Tompkins King, Golden Russet, Fameuse, Gravenstein, Tolman Sweet, McIntosh, Wolf River, Arkansas Black, Northern Greening, Horse, Missouri Pippin, Arkansas, and White Pearman.

Supposedly Almanzo's trees came from Stark Brothers Nursery in Louisiana, Missouri. I have their earliest catalog (from their archives), dated 1891. Ben Davis is listed; Missouri Pippin is not.

Although Almanzo wrote that he had never had an orchard before moving to Missouri, his father had apples in Franklin County, New York. Surely Almanzo picked up a bit of common knowledge about fruit trees, and one can only wonder if James Wilder gave Almanzo any advice about growing apples.
- posted by pioneergirl at 1:37 AM