Part 5, Note 62

Click Here to See All Notes to Part 5

Record of Appointment of Postmasters 1832-September 30, 1971, National Archives Microfilm Publication M841, Roll 122; William Arthur Yates, "About the New Southern Fruit List," Texas Farm and Ranch Journal, vol. 14, no. 27, July 6, 1895; Frank W. Johnson, A History of Texas and Texans, ed. by Eugene Campbell Barker and Ernest William Winkler (Chicago and New York: The American Historical Society, 1916), vol. 3, pp. 1366-1367; Descriptive Catalogue of Pearfield Nursery and Poultry Farm, Frelsburg, Colorado County, Texas (Columbus: Colorado Citizen, n. d.), p. 12; Century of Agricultural Progress 1856-1956 Minutes of the Cat Spring Agricultural Society (San Antonio, 1956). Exactly when Becker began successful cultivation of his apple is in some doubt. The Pearfield Nursery catalogue cited above stated that the apple was "imported from Germany about the year 1854." However, the catalogue was certainly published more than forty years later, for the catalogue published by the nursery in 1894 states that "apples have been almost a complete failure here" and makes no mention of the Becker apple (see Descriptive Catalogue of Pearfield Nursery, Frelsburg, Colorado County, Texas (Columbus: Colorado Citizen, 1894), p. 13). Though it had been developed virtually in his backyard, the proprietor of the Pearfield Nursery, Johann Friedrich Leyendecker, may not have learned about the Becker apple until the Yates article was published, after which he may have learned about its origins by interviewing members of the family. Yates described the Becker apple as "highly colored red" and the Pearfield catalogue as "overspread with read [sic] and small white dots." The Gulf Coast Nursery catalogue for 1910-1911 describes it as "reddish blue flecked with white" (see Gulf Coast Nursery Catalogue 1910-1911, published by E. S. Stockwell & Son of Alvin, Texas). Another, apparently earlier catalogue simply calls it "highly colored" (see Fruit and Ornamental Trees, Roses, Etc. published by William Watson Rosedale Nurseries of Brenham, Texas).