Peter had been growing fruit since he was a young boy. He wanted to try to figure a way to grow fruit in what had been an unsuitable environment. Peter toiled daily and tried to grow fruit for 14 years in Minnesota and planted more than 10,000 apple, peach, cherry, pear, plum, and quince trees; however hard winters, blight, grasshopper plagues, and other hardships made growing fruit impossible. Each year he had to start anew.
"His first experiments [at Lake Minnetonka] consisted in planting thirty varieties of apple trees…. At the end of ten years, the rigorous Minnesota winters has killed every tree except on seedling crab. The labor and money of all these years was lost to him, and to many others who followed in his footsteps." ~The Minnesota Horticulturist 1900, in Memorial of Peter Gideon's Death~
A Glimmer of Hope
Only one tree survived the winter;
it was the crabapple tree.
Only one tree survived the winter;
it was the crabapple tree.
It was very sour so no one wanted to eat it or use it for cooking. As a result, Peter ordered a box of crabapple seeds and a box of ordinary apple seeds from Maine and planned on crossing both varieties to produce a good apple. Peter hoped this would be the turning point that the tough surviving trait would be produced in the apple and the sour trait from the crabapple would be lost. He wanted to produce an apple that would have multiple uses like eating, baking, and freezing and would have an appealing taste.
"I fully expect to succeed in the end in getting a long-keeper [apple] that will flourish in Minnesota." Peter Gideon, 1883
Click here to view "Planting the First Seed"