A fruit dealer offered a calculated sum for one branch of the old orchard tree. (calculated: computed, worked-out, estimated) The orchard belonged to the village, and its keeper had begun to worry about its senescent limbs. (senescent: aging, ageing, declining with age) A bud might regenerate the old variety elsewhere. (regenerate: renew, restore, revive) A cutting could also impoverish the only tree still bearing fruit. (impoverish: deplete, drain, weaken)
The dealer wanted exclusive rights. Calling a common inheritance private property seemed too high an exaction. (exaction: levy, imposition, compulsory payment) Yet a steward could hardly disregard the viability of the orchard. (viability: feasibility, workability, practicability) The village children supplied the catalyst: each wanted a sapling of the pear-shaped apple. (catalyst: stimulus, trigger, spur)
Neighbors learned to graft, the dealer supplied rootstock and the keeper labeled the new trees. Last came the smallest child, holding out a twig already split by frost. Years later hers was the first sapling to surpass the old tree in height. (surpass: exceed, outdo, outstrip)