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  • From: Heron Breen <breen@fedcoseeds.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] J. Seed
  • Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 19:26:28 -0600


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






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