An Illustrated Catalog Of American Fruits Nuts

The United States Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection encompasses 7,497 botanical watercolor paintings of evolving fruit and nut varieties; alongside specimens introduced by USDA plant explorers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Assembled between 1886 and 1942, these remarkable, botanically accurate, watercolors were executed by some 21 professional artists (including nine women). Authored largely before the widespread application of photography, the watercolors were intended to aid accurate identification and examination of fruit varietals , for the nation's fruit growers. Documenting the transformation of American pomology, the science of fruit breeding and production, and the horticultural innovations accountable for contemporary fruit cultivation and consumption, the USDA's collection offers fascinating anthropological and horticultural insights on the fruits we ecstatically devour, and why. Encompassing fruit-suffused anecdotes and observations drawn from the fields of archaeology and anthropology, horticulture and literature, ancient representation and contemporary visual art, Atelier Éditions' kaleidoscopic examination of the USDA's pomological collection, offers readers an engaging, biophillic meditation upon the sweetest of all earth's produce.

Ever wanted to know the genus name for a coconut? Intended for all your research needs, this encyclopedia is a comprehensive collection of information on temperate and tropical fruit and nut crops. Entries are grouped alphabetically by family and then by species, making it easy to find the information you need. Coverage includes palms and cacti as well as vegetable fruits of Solanaceae and Curcurbitacea. This book not only deals with the horticulture of the fruit and nut crops but also discusses the botany, making it a useful tool for anyone from scientists to gardeners and fruit hobbyists.

A book that became an instant classic when it first appeared in 1995, Old Southern Apples is an indispensable reference for fruit lovers everywhere, especially those who live in the southern United States. Out of print for several years, this newly revised and expanded edition now features descriptions of some 1,800 apple varieties that either originated in the South or were widely grown there before 1928. Author Lee Calhoun was one of the foremost figures in apple conservation in America. This masterwork reflects his knowledge and personal experience over more than thirty years, as he sought out and grew hundreds of classic apples, including both legendary varieties (like Nickajack and Magnum Bonum) and little-known ones (like Buff and Cullasaga). Representing our common orchard heritage, many of these apples are today at risk of disappearing from our national table. Illustrated with more than 120 color images of classic apples from the National Agricultural Library’s collection of watercolor paintings, Old Southern Apples is a fascinating and beautiful reference and gift book. In addition to A-to-Z descriptions of apple varieties, both extant and extinct, Calhoun provides a brief history of apple culture in the South, and includes practical information on growing apples and on their traditional uses.

Paintings of virtually every plant used for food are accompanied by information on the origins, histories, uses, nutritional characteristics, and horticulture of each

A freewheeling catalog of misfits, eccentrics, creeps, criminals, and failed dreamers, this compendium profiles 45 bizarre personalities who exemplify the Golden State’s well-deserved reputation for nonconformity. In the pages, Gold Rush pioneers are revealed as murderous madmen; Hollywood celebrities are shown to be drug-addled sex maniacs; early hippies are just 1950s weirdos; and even seemingly ordinary Californians have a talent for freakish, crazy, and criminal behavior. From frontier lunatic Grizzly Adams, whose head was one massive wound after multiple bear attacks, to I Love Lucy star William Frawley, a racist, misogynist, foul-mouthed drunk, and legendarily awful film director Ed Wood, California Fruits, Flakes, and Nuts is a side-splitting look at the people who made California the strangest place on earth.

This book examines economically important horticultural crops selected from the major production systems in temperate, subtropical and tropical climatic areas. The general aspects of the tropical climate, fruit production techniques, tree management and postharvest handling and the principal tropical fruit crops that are common in temperate city markets are discussed. The taxonomy, cultivars, propagation and orchard management, biotic and abiotic problems and cultivar development of these fruit crops are also highlighted.

"Noel Kingsbury reveals that even those imaginary perfect foods are themselves far from anything that could properly be called natural, rather, they represent the end of a millennia-long history of selective breeding and hybridization. Starting his story at the birth of agriculture, Kingsbury traces the history of human attempts to make plants more reliable, productive, and nutritiousa story that owes as much to accident and error as to innovation and experiment. Drawing on historical and scientific accounts, as well as a rich trove of anecdotes, Kingsbury shows how scientists, amateur breeders, and countless anonymous farmers and gardeners slowly caused the evolutionary pressures of nature to be supplanted by those of human needs and thus led us from sparse wild grasses to succulent corn cobs, and from mealy, white wild carrots to the juicy vegetables we enjoy today. At the same time, Kingsbury reminds us that contemporary controversies over the Green Revolution and genetically modified crops are not new, plant breeding has always had a political dimension."--Publisher's description.

Unscheinbare Selbstverständlichkeiten neigen dazu, bei genauerem Hinsehen ein ganzes Universum faszinierender Details und ausgefallener Besonderheiten zu offenbaren. Man muss nur das richtige Auge dafür haben. Das ist bei William Mullan absolut der Fall. Durch seine Begegnung mit dem wechselhaften Erscheinungsbild eines Egremont-Russet-Apfels kam er auf den Geschmack. Seitdem erforscht er die gewaltige Bandbreite an Apfelsorten und fängt ihren jeweils eigenen Charme in liebevollen Porträts voll stilistischer Eleganz ein. Es ist gerade das seltsam Anmutende und bislang Unbekannte, das diese Aufnahmen zu faszinierenden Studien der vermeintlich alltäglichen Frucht macht. Mullan vertraut sich ganz ihrer eigenwilligen Ästhetik an und lädt in diesem attraktiven Geschenkbuch dazu ein, auf visuelle Entdeckungstour in die Welt des Apfels zu gehen.