North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Heron Breen <breen@fedcoseeds.com>]

Hi All,
>From a few different sources, and with the details all gone fuzzy in my 
>head, I 
have read that Johnathan Chapman was a vegetarian, and a non-drinker. While 
this 
does not preclude him from planting trees for cider for other folks, other 
situations seem to explain his behavior. Apparently he was part of a 
Christian 
sect, and I cannot recall which, maybe someone out there can remind me, and 
his 
behavior, like vegetarianism, was totally bizarre for many people of the day. 
He 
eschewed money and material wealth in general, beyond what was needed. He 
also had 
many ideas on nature that apparently involved not pruning trees because it 
was 
against divine guidance or natural way (? just a hypothesis, since I am not 
privvy 
to the religious sect). 
Many sources have concluded he was basically a religious, possibly mentally 
ill, 
real estate developer. He would continue farther into the unsettled regions, 
establishing orchards/nurseries, and the arriving settlers would have to buy 
out 
his claim, usually in the best sites. The price paid was fairly small, but 
enough 
to live off of, and he would take the younger stock and seeds and continue to 
the 
next perfect spot and wait. I believe he was not grafting as it seems against 
the 
above doctrine of no pruning, but I could be wrong. But established stock to 
topwork and make cider and vinegar from were definitely a needed commodity by 
a 
settler family, vinegar and cider being as good as money in a barter economy, 
vinegar especially surprisingly.
I think it may be this person's religious conviction and lack of social 
skills that 
got him his mythical status.
Burnt Ridge Nursery has a similarly seemingly unbelievable story of another 
nursery/grafter/farmer/black man/Oregon Trail person in their Winter 2004 
catalog. 
This person, named George W. Bush no less, lived a life that seems beyond 
human. 
Check this story out: George makes J. Seed seem pretty normal. PG 27, story 
called: 
George W. Bush and the Giant Butternut.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Heron Breen
Zone 4