ISSAC NEWTON (BABSON COLLEGE)

This is probably the old, large, dull-yellow, brownish-blushed, English cooking apple called Flower of Kent that dates back to at least the early 17th century. Most importantly, though, this is supposedly the apple that fell in 1665 from a tree at Woolsthorpe, near Colsterworth, on the Great North Road, about six miles from Grantham in Lincolnshire and bonked young Isaac Newton on the head, an event that inspired him to invent gravity and change the world forever. Isaac was home from Trinity College to escape an outbreak of the plague and just happened to be sitting under the right tree at the right moment. The rest is history. (Or, science!) Funny how things work. The cultivar was grafted over the years at various academic institutions around the world, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Babson College in the US. In 2013 Fedco grafted a tree for every graduating senior at Babson. That was a lot of trees. Now you can proudly grow one in your own orchard without paying four years of Babson tuition! On trial at SCF. Scionwood from the Babson tree.