Sacha wrote:
On 19/11/05 23:40, in article ,
"Richard Brooks" wrote:


Sacha wrote:

Today's Daily Telegraph gardening supplement has a good article on older
varieties of apples, especially those grown for cider and juice making.
It's worth reading for the wonderful names of the apples alone - all old
English types and as the article says, how hard it is to find English apples
in supermarkets nowadays! I can thoroughly recommend the apple juice made
by the Bradley family, BTW, they supply our tea room!

I don't know if things have changed but I remember the 'shock horror'
many years ago of the EC declaring many old species of fruit and
vegetables illegal to grow for selling commercially. Initially they
forgot to tell everyone the 'for selling' bit but then later stated that
it was okay for the home enthusiast to grow for own use.

Hopefully they've seen sense on this but I've not heard much since I was
a member of the HDRA.


Well, the nursery called Thornhayes, which is in Devon, sells a lot of very
ancient varieties of fruit trees of all kinds, especially apples and pears.
So I can't imagine that it's illegal to sell them. There's one apple tree
with the wonderful name of 'Greasy Butcher'! Their catalogue can be
downloaded as a pdf file. It's worth reading the fruit trees section for
the names alone, IMO! They say most of these trees are selected for the wet
and mild West Country so it would be worth anyone interested talking to
Thornhayes about their suitability for elsewhere. The catalogue gives a
short background history to each tree and its fruiting dates and keeping
qualities, too.
www.thornhayes-nursery.co.uk/

The difference being if you set up as a commercial concern which is a
wholly different aim than to buy them just for your garden or private
orchard. The home grower suddenly finds a whole new set of rules and
guidelines when thinking of saving the seed or fruit from something
they've enjoyed and want to now share it for some pennies. I think the
term now used by the EU is 'protectionism' and to be thought of in a
positive sense. Personally I'd like to buy some of those bananas that
the EU don't see as being recognised as being from one of the countries
that supply the EU and insert them where Gorillas won't find them.

Hopefully they've ditched this idea but I think it was done at a time
when member states were being told what to grow and what diversity they
should restrict themselves to.


Richard.


--
We trade our health in search of wealth,
We scrimp and toil and save;
We trade our wealth in search of health,
But only find the grave.