Daryl Lund, right, dean of the Ag College, joins Susan K. Brown, associate professor at the Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, in planting a Fortune apple tree May 3 at Cornell Orchard. Frank DiMeo/University Photography
By Blaine P. Friedlander Jr.
Ryan Thomas England does not know it yet, but Tree Number 12 is for him. To find it, go to the first row of the Fortune apple trees at Cornell Orchard, where his proud grandfather planted it the day after Ryan's birth.
"I should tie a little blue ribbon around it," said Daryl Lund, the boy's grandfather and dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Lund, Cornell scientists and others involved in the Fortune effort gathered in a light rain on May 3 to plant the first of 200 Fortune apple trees in the orchard along Route 366, east of campus.
Armed with a golden shovel, the dean and Susan K. Brown, associate professor of horticultural science at Cornell's Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, ceremonially dug the hole for Tree Number 12.
The tree, along with 199 others, will produce Fortune apples -- a large, tasty, eating variety -- the latest in a long line of achievements by the Geneva Apple Breeding Program. The apple is a hybrid offspring of the Schoharie Spy and Empire apples and has cream-colored flesh, crisp texture and stores well.
The other Cornell scientists planting trees Friday included: Elmer E. Ewing, chair of fruit and vegetable science; Louis J. Edgerton, professor emeritus of fruit and vegetable science; and Warren C. Stiles, professor of fruit and vegetable science. Helping with the planting of the ceremonial trees were Dawn Moser, Erma Sacchi, Curt Bailey and Jerry Gentile Jr., all of the Cornell Orchard crew.
The Fortune apple trees are expected to bear fruit in two years, said Rick Reisinger, Cornell Orchard manager. He expects to harvest 100 bushels within two years and up to 300 bushels for sale in the orchard store in three years.
Young Ryan, born Thursday in Fort Atkinson, Wis., then will be old enough to enjoy the fruits of Cornell research and his grandfather's labor.