BOOK BITS -

THE SHOCKING TRUTH ABOUT JOHNNY APPLESEED

 Book:  The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan - page 8

Many of us are familiar with the story of John Chapman, otherwise known as Johnny Appleseed, the settler who travelled by canoe throughout the West planting apple seeds.  Although definitely eccentric, he still enjoys a certain aura of sainthood, particularly in children's literature.  

Now the nasty truth:  The apples from the trees he was planting all over the west were so sour that they were inedible.  But they were excellent for the manufacture of cider, an alcoholic beverage.

Author Michael Pollan says Johnny Appleseed was bringing the gift of alcohol to the frontier.  He returned every year to Allegheny County in western Pennsylvania to collect apple seeds from every cider mill in the area.  He would then make his way back and get ahead of the settlers populating the west.  He would plant apple tree nurseries and by the time the new settlers reached that spot, he would hire someone to operate the nursery for the apple cider factory. 

Then he would go back to Pennsylvania, get more seeds, return to the west by canoe, get ahead of the settlers, and plant another nursery.  And so on.  By the time he passed away in 1845 he left an estate that included 1200 acres of prime real estate.