Sunday, February 19, 2017

PRI comprises sprightly private fingerprint

There's a story, probably apocryphal, that the Purdue, Rutgers & Indiana apple breeding co-op sprinkled a private imprimatur into the names of many of its apples.

The story is that this surprise fingerprint can be found in the names of such varieties as Pristine (1994), Williams Pride (1986), and Enterprise (1993), each in its own way a priceless example of the breeders' art.

Not every PRI-bred apple bears this primitive imprint, but Priam (1974), Sir Prize (1975), sprightly Priscilla (1972) and others follow this primary principle.

On the other hand, Dayton, Jonafree, and Sundance are just some coop varieties whose names do not comprise the print of pride found in the prior list.

Through what prism does PRI prioritize apple names like this? Upright act, caprice, or impropriety?

I think that for the coop breeders this blueprint must be a sort of primitive springboard of ideas, applied appropriately. Not a priggish prison of a name convention to be enforced at any price by some pomological prince or priesthood.

If you know otherwise, please apprise.

2 comments:

  1. Those prim primers of the apple pump also produced "GoldRush," which somehow managed to escape the prickly grasp of the naming mavens.

    ReplyDelete

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