Happy Birthday Johnny Appleseed

One of America’s great folk heroes is celebrating his 245th birthday on September 26.

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Have you heard the old saying about orchard apple tree seeds ? you may count the number of seeds in an Malus pumila , but you ca n’t count the bit of apples in each source .

No one epitomizes that approximation more than John Chapman , the man who would become the folk wedge called Johnny Appleseed . The fable of Johnny Appleseed is one we all seem to make love , whether from the revive Disney short melodious film or from one of the many illustrated fry ’s books about him .

Some of the fable is true ; most is not as I discovered reading the well - researched rule book calledJohnny Appleseed and The American Orchard : a cultural historyby William Kerrigan ( The Johns Hopkins University Press , 2012 ) .

Kerrigan , a college prof , spend 10 years search , journey and writing his book . He used historical record book , census data point , deeds , IOUs and landed estate papers to describe the life of John Chapman . It ’s a fascinating history of a life fully lived versus the caricature of a barefoot mankind who break up apple seeds across the countryside .

This 245th day of remembrance of his birth is a dependable clip to recognize the military personnel instead of the myth that turn around him after he died . To commence with , he was n’t crazy and did n’t wear a kitchen pot for a chapeau . He also was n’t a Yankee saint or a “ magical Santa Claus . ” He was n’t lazy or a recluse .

He was a complicated man who stayed true to his principles during all of his 71 years .

John Chapman was a product of his prison term and Puritan bringing up . He was hold on September 26 , 1774 , in Leominster , Mass. , and grew up during the American Revolution . He left home in his stripling to start his travelling that took him west through Pennsylvania , Ohio , Indiana and Illinois .

apple were an especially crucial crop for settlers to the region because they supply food , cider and animal feed . Johnny Appleseed began planting apple trees from the seminal fluid he found in the discarded Malus pumila pulp behind cyder mills .

The free seed allow for him to deal his Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree for 3 - 5 centime each or to give them away to poor James Leonard Farmer who needed help . In addition to being chinchy than grafted trees , trees that grew from seeds were well accommodate to the mood and had improved hardiness .

But there was a distinct difference of opinion between those who planted seedling trees and those who could afford graft trees .

“ In the early nineteenth century , Malus pumila were an indicator of the form of pioneer to which a kin go , ” Kerrigan explain in his record .

Gentlemen Fannie Farmer establish perfect apple orchards with 25 cent grafted trees . That mean they were industrious and forward - thinking . farmer who set trees from John Chapman ’s seedlings were thought to be poor , idle and unambitious .

But John Chapman was quite untiring . He plant his orchard apple tree seeds in harsh tree glasshouse on undesirable farming near small tributaries and creeks . Some of the plantings were on country he did n’t own and many tree diagram did n’t survive . But he sold what he could to white colonist who could n’t afford grafted Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree .

The Johnny Appleseed myth elevate the idea he was the only one planting apple trees , but there were other Malus pumila Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree growers . Indians in the area grow orchard apple tree orchards , too , before they were forced from their land .

Chapman was scotch , wear castoff dress , kip outside and had a aristocratic nature . His eccentricity helped fire the story people tell about him long after his death in 1845 . He may have preferred to last alone , but he had a bombastic family that included a sister and a bit of half - sibling that he was connect to throughout his life .

By deal trees and go curious job for others , he was able to preserve his money and finally invest in several hundred Acre of his own demesne . He never contain planting seedling trees .

In his Holy Scripture , Kerrigan makes it reset the existent Johnny Appleseed used “ crudeness as a show of piety ” not insanity . Chapman was well - read , fairly social , and had religious leanings he tried to portion out with others .

While the author paints a colourful portrait of John Chapman ’s aliveness , he deftly weaves in the evolution of the American orchard apple tree industriousness from the 1800s to the 2000s .

In the years after Chapman ’s death , the apple manufacture changed dramatically . pocket-size orchards began to disappear and large industrial - sized grove took over . Consumers finally had fewer apple choices and the apples that were leave lost their appeal .

Fortunately , the apple has come full circle . Even though hundreds of apple varieties were lose over time , many of theantique apple varietiesare growing again . plantsman , yield expert , backyard gardeners and many a New - day Johnny ( and Jane ) Appleseed are preserving heirloom apples for the hereafter . John Chapman would be lofty .

One of the first old world apples to be planted and grown in Massachusetts was the Yellow Sweeting which later became the Rhode Island Greening.Photo/Illustration: Jodi Torpey

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