by Jack Kertesz
One could name this “Cascade” crab, but it’s real name still remains a mystery. This is the “Waterville P.O.” crab. It generated some interest at Great Maine Apple Day. The flavor is unique, perhaps a bit winey. They are a delight to snack on and rather large for a crab. Most of the fruit was cosmetically perfect. Fedco offered these in 2016, but in retrospect, that catalog copy did little justice to extol their edibility, productivity and pest freedom. I shared some of these recently with Laura Seiger and Jacob Mentlick who agreed that they were pretty good. They have a waxy cast to them, probably helping them to store. 
Jack’s February 2023 update:
Here’s an update on the “mystery” Waterville Post Office Crab, sold by FEDCO TREES.
The three trees that were there have been identified as the variety KERR, a cross between Dolgo Crab and Haralson, introduced in the 1950’s from a breeding program at the Morden Research Station in Canada. This is a relief to know since all the Kerr trees, 3 adjacent Dolgo and a couple of other larger trees that showed promise for their rootstock emergent apples, HAVE ALL BEEN CUT DOWN!
A couple things to clear up. While I appreciate getting credit for “discovering” this variety as noted in the Fedco Catalog, it was just another “stumble upon” encounter and nothing that anyone with a bit of curiosity couldn’t have done. Being attentive, harvesting some fruit, showing it to others and alerting a place like Fedco to help move it along in the trade, is what adds up to being a responsible fruit explorer.
The other interesting story related to these trees that were “unplanted”, is that this is now about the sixth incident that I have witnessed, where removal of something that I felt was worthy of propagation “happened”. The message here is—collect wood when you can, and graft it or get it grafted before it disappears!
