“William’s Pride”

     The apples on our “William’s Pride” tree are ripe for the picking.  We ate the first one just the other day.  It had fallen off the tree in the subtle way that apples have of telling you it’s harvest time.  It was red and beautiful and we scooped it up before the birds discovered it.
     But it wasn’t before something else had worked its evil.  When we cut it open for ‘share and share alike,’ we found that the bottom half was brown and yucky.  A worm?  A fungus?  We couldn’t determine the cause.  We ate the good part and it was delicious.
     Nyel is hoping to borrow Hal’s orchard ladder later this week so that he can pick the rest of them.  And we’ll hope for the best.  The entire tree has behaved strangely this year.  The branches on one side have not borne fruit at all.  I can’t remember if there were blossoms on that side.  Would I have noticed had there not been?  I’m not sure.  On that side, too, all the leaves have fallen off several branches and they appear to have died.
     My theory is that it has something to do with the original grafting.  As I understand it, the William’s Pride part (the scion) was grafted onto dwarf tree (the stock) so that we’ll have delicious apples on a small-sized tree.  I think it’s possible that part of the tree reverted somehow.  Nyel thinks the tree is just plain sick.  Neither of us know what we are talking about, of course, and we are hopeful that it’s just an aberration and the tree will be fully recovered by next spring.
     Meanwhile, we are waiting to see if the remaining apples are all right.  And we’re trying not to do all those metaphorical musings about beauty and book covers…