More Apple history. From 1920 to 1940 the USDA had its primary research farm for apples on the banks of the Potomac River. They had 35 acres for apple variety evaluation. Two trees of each variety were planted and evaluated generally from 4 to 6 years. Over 500 apples and crabapples from around the world were there. The results were published in 4 volumes totaling over 2,000 pages of mostly handwritten notes. Unfortunately, it is a pain to read the notes as you can see from one page of several written up for Banks Gravenstein over the years.
As Paul Harvey would say, “The Rest of the Story” is: That farm became the south parking lot of the Pentagon.
A couple of photos. 400 acres. The house behind the orchard is Arlington house and future site of cemetery. Photos credit Arlington Public Library, linked below.
