C̶o̶d̶a̶ Codex Equestria: Scientific Pony T̶a̶i̶l̶s̶ Tales

by Pineta

Apple Cloning

“So in this field we have McIntosh, Golden Russet, Redstreak, Macoun and Ashmead's Kernel. Then down in the south orchard we keep Granny Smith, Westfield Seek-No-Further, Flower of Kent, Tremlett's Bitter...”

Twilight followed Applejack along the path through the Sweet Apple Acres orchards, admiring the blooming fruit trees while listening to her jabber on. When Applejack talked like this, it was not always obvious whether she was describing part of her farm, or a distant branch of the Apple family.

“...then we have Rosemary Russet, Jonagold, Blenheim Orange, Cortland, Idared, Dabinett...”

Or possibly both at the same time.

“...Nickajack, Roxbury Russet, Royal Gala, Brown Snout, Allin'ton Pippin...”

“Applejack?” Twilight said.

“...Baldwin, Cox's Orange Pippin, Pixie, Honeycrisp, Knobbled Russet, Opal...”

“APPLEJACK!”

“Yes, Twilight?”

“Why do you have to grow so many different apples?”

“'Cause that's what we do here in on the apple farm, Twilight. We, uh... grow apples,” Applejack replied with her usual honesty.

“But why do you grow so many varieties? Why not just stick with one or two? Wouldn't that make things easier to manage?”

“Well, that maybe how some folks do it,” replied Applejack with a stern look, “but that's not how we do it on mah farm.”

“Why not?”

“Well one or two may be fine for the likes of Filthy Rich. If all you want is some uniform, thick-skinned fruit with a long shelf life to stock in Barnyard Bargains. But you want you want to make a proper apple pie, and real cider, and have a decent range of sweet, tart, succulent, and crunchy treats; then you need a diverse orchard. But there's more to it than that. We have to maintain genetic variability.”

“Genetic what?”

“Variability. Ye see, we grow apples by graftin' a stem cutting onto a rootstock. Which means they're genetic clones of their parents. Melrose here”—Applejack gently laid a hoof against the trunk of one of her favourites—“her full name is Melrose 4652. Being a clone of Melrose 4651, and all the other Melroses in Sweet Apple Acres, and around Equestria.”

“Right...”

“But keepin' a farm full is clones is mighty risky thing to do. Just think of the disasters which could strike.”

“Like?”

Applejack leaned over and spoke softly into her friend's ear, unwilling to speak the name of any evil louder than necessary. “Apple scab, apple rust, fireblight, powdery mildew, wooly apple aphids,” she said with a grim face. Each of these was a foe to be reckoned with. “If you get a new variety of pest hit yer farm, and yer trees are the same, it can wipe out the lot. You heard the tale of the Baltimare Potato Famine, I guess?”

Twilight nodded grimly. The historic crop failure in Baltimare and Connemarea (turned into a devastating famine due to the inaction of the absentee Trottingham landlords), was one of darkest chapters of Equestrian history.

“Back in those days, the Baltimares lived entirely on potatoes. All the farms growin' one type of plant. Enter the potato blight, and it killed them all off.” She shuddered at the thought.

“So you need a lot of apple trees so at least some will survive an applecalypse?”

“Exactly. Much as I'd hate to lose a single tree. I'd hate it even more to lose the entire farm.”

“But surely that wouldn't happen—”

“Growing apples is war! Twilight, I swear every night when I'm lying in bed, I can hear them aphids marching towards my trees. We fight them all we can. But the only real way to keep 'em at bay is to breed pest-resistant trees. But them pathogens keep changing too. As soon as you think you've got a winner, along comes a mutant monster that kills 'em. That's evolution. So we have to keep breeding new ones from seed. But to do that, we need a big gene pool – so lots of different trees. The puniest little crab-apple may save the day, if it's got a certain anti-pathogen gene.”

“So how many types of tree do you have?”

“Few hundred I guess. Not that many really.”

“Not that many?”

“Well there's some six thousand varieties of apple all in all. What we've got here is just a small sample. But the Apple family keep a record of 'em all, so across all Equestria, we have 'em all.”

The two friends walked out of the orchard towards the farmhouse.

“Come on—time for some apple pie. Granny Smith's been cookin' up the last of last year's Bramley and Catshead.”

Author's Note:

Further Reading: Monoculture and the Irish Potato Famine

Comments

[Bugsydor]

applecalypse

I approve of this. Not the notion of a post-applecalyptic world, but of the daring pun.

[AppleTank]

Instead of a food bank, the Apples got a seed bank.

[Walabio]

In our world, we have a seedbank on Svalbard, protected by the Panserbjørne.

[QueenMoriarty]

But you want you want to make a proper apple pie

Also, you did not seriously just have Twilight Sparkle not knowing the word 'variability'.

[Arn]

Nothing about grafting?

[ASGeek2012]

Growing apples is war! Twilight, I swear every night when I'm lying in bed, I can hear them aphids marching towards my trees. We fight them all we can.

We shall fight on the farm,
we shall fight in the orchards and the trees,
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength on the ground,
we shall defend our apples, whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight in the grasses, we shall fight on the roots, we shall fight in the branches and in the leaves, we shall fight in the apple blossoms;
we shall never surrender.

[Arn]

7431860
...you must first create the universe!
Carl Sagan

[KnightMysterio]

And on this day, Twilight Sparkle learned that her friend, in her own way, was just as intelligent as she was.

[Georg]

so at least some will survive an applecalypse?

Oh, now I both hate you and love you at the same time.