The Best Apples to Buy and Grow is one of those small, beautifully illustrated books that clearly can't find room within its pages to tell the reader everything.  But, in this case at least, it does a great job providing depth in its niche --- helping readers choose from among the 1,513 apple varieties currently available commercially in the U.S.

Half of the book introduces the top variety choices of four apple experts, summarized by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.  By picking the brains of well-known pomologists from around the U.S. (Virginia, New York, Arkansas, and Oregon), the book's "60 Great Apples" are likely to steer most readers toward locally adapted varieties.  (I'll make a later post with the types of apples that piqued my fancy from this and the other orchard books I've been perusing lately.)

The other half of the book consists of basic information you could find in many other sources, but some tidbits did stand out.  Several apple varieties tend to lose points among modern growers for a tendency toward biennial bearing (having a huge crop one year then taking the second year off), but the authors point out that this can be a good pest resistance strategy.  The grafting section also included some simple good advice --- cut scionwood in January or February, graft in February or March, and set out the new trees after the last freeze.  (I'll be marking my calendar for this winter's experiments.)

All told, The Best Apples to Buy and Grow is a fun read, and I highly recommend hunting it down in your local library.  I'll be returning my copy to its original owner, though --- a few pages of notes summed up all of the useful information I'll need to remember.