Richard Kimmel wanted information on plants on archaeological sites:
 
"I have seen volunteer grapes and pears on historic sites and I wonder if
they are varieties that are lost today."
 
Yes, it is quite possible that the last specimen of a variety of apple,
grape, or other plant is found only on a single homestead site. The
varieties of plants grown for food, herbal medicine, and other uses was
far greater in the 19th and early 20th century, than today. Our backyard
gardens may have greater species grown, but not on the varietal level, as
scientific agriculture and commercial seed companies have focused on
production and disease resistance. We are increasingly using fewer and
fewer varieties of corn, tomato, beans, etc in commercial agriculture and
run the risk of famine in the future as a result. The biodiversity in the
small farm or backyard garden has been decreasing steadily.
 
For that reason, an active group of folk grow "antique" plants, heirloom
varieties, etc. as a means of preserving biodiversity (and food crops
with taste and other nice attributes). You might get a copy of Organic
Gardening and look in the back for section Garden to Garden. This lists
people and their seeds they are willing to share. You might write to
SS/SS, Organic Gardening, 33 E. Minor St., Emmaus, PA 18098.
 
Another source for information is the National Germplasm Repository,
33447 Peoria Road, Corvallis, OR 97330  (541) 750-8712. They have
hundreds of varieties of each plant in some cases.
 
One of the leading authorities on apples,  at Oregon State University,
has gone around to old homesteads to get cuttings of apples. You might
contact the Botany Dept there.
 
Seeds lie dormant in the ground for years, perhaps centuries in some
cases. So it may be possible in preservational environments, like an
icehouse, to sprout the seeds in your collection.
 
At Waverly Plantation in Mississippi, we excavated in 1979  many daffodil
bulbs from the freed slave sites last occupied in 1920s. Many other
plants like peony, rose, yucca, can survive when all other surface
indications for a site are long vanished.
 
There are a number of commercial sources for old varieties of plants.
Contact me if you wish.
 
If you haven't eaten one of the old varieties of apples you haven't eaten
a real apple. Apples must be propagated by using cuttings not seeds.
Grapes also propagate easily from cuttings. So if you find an old
variety, take a cutting (with permission, of course).
 
Bill Adams
Master Gardener (and archaeologist)