the big apple

[Gerald Cohen]

Again I pass along a message of George Cole's with thanks. Apples
have been special throughout history, and the big Red Delicious
apples, developed in Iowa in the 1870s, were regarded as extra
special.

---Gerald Cohen


>Gerald,
>I've not followed the 'Big Apple' discussion that closely, so I'm not
>sure that the following reference is appropriate.  The reference says
>nothing about NYC.  It seems to indicate that, at one time, "the big
>apple" was a reference to the best that could be had.  The reference is
>from MOA-Cornell.
>
>http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fscmo%2Fscmo0002%2F&tif=00215.TIF&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fcdl.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmoa%2Fmoa-cgi%3Fnotisid%3DABP7664-0002-34
>
>"I remember, when I was a little fellow, it needed no drilling in
>courtesy to make me take the scrawniest apple, the littlest stick of
>candy, the bottom buckwheat cake--nor did I account this any virtue.
>The big apple, the topmost cake, always belonged, I thought, to my
>neighbor...."
>
>In "The Old Cabinet", Scribners monthly, 2 #2, June 1871, p.207.
>===========
>
>George Cole
>Shippensburg University